Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences

The international scientific conference titled “Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development: Current Realities and an Outlook for the future for the Future” took place at the Presidium building on July 17.

The event was attended by representatives from the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, scientific research institutes of the Ministry of Science and Education, higher education institutions, the Innovation and Digital Development Agency, BİLGEM Artificial Intelligence Institute of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkiye (TUBITAK), the Federal Scientific Agroengineering Center of Russia, Tohoku University of Japan, Istanbul Technical University, and members of the mass media.

At first, the conference attendees visited the ANAS-TÜBİTAK Coordination Center and the Hall of Fame of Nobel Prize laureate, honorary member of ANAS, Professor Aziz Sancar, located in the Presidium building of ANAS. Later, they interacted with a robot named "Humanoid SUFI" (Word Processing with Universal Functionality), developed by the "Electronic Academy" department.

and the purpose of the conference is to analyze the trends and future directions of digital transformation, which are the current challenges of the globalized world. It consists of discussing the research conducted in our country related to artificial intelligence technologies, the study of their achievements, and introducing the obtained results.

Academician Isa Habibbeyli, President of ANAS, opened the event with an introductory speech, highlighting that today, for the first time, a scientific conference dedicated to artificial intelligence and digital development is taking place at the Presidium. The conference aims to examine research conducted in our country on artificial intelligence technologies and their achievements, analyzing trends and future directions of digital transformation, discuss the current state of potential applications, and present the results obtained.

Academician Isa Habibbeyli remarked, “The 21st century is considered the fastest-changing century globally. In previous centuries, we thought about keeping pace with time and even surpass it, but today humanity has reached a stage where we manage and direct time itself. Current processes show that technological and digital advancements are outpacing traditional forms of development.”

Academician Isa Habibbeyli mentioned that during President Ilham Aliyev's speech at the inauguration ceremony in the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan, technological development was declared as one of the top priority directions for the future of independent Azerbaijan.

He also emphasized that the President’s perspective on the Turkic world, the "Karabakh Declaration" signed by the heads of Turkic states in Shusha, and the provisions in their speeches show that the 21st century will be the century of development for the Turkic world. Digital development and artificial intelligence occupy leading positions in the country, the global arena, and the Turkic world. The digital development era is already in full progress. The innovation brought by artificial intelligence is that it continuously changes, innovates, improves, and develops every day. Humanity is already addressing the challenges of the 4th Industrial Revolution, enhancing and advancing it at a rapid pace. Therefore, it is almost impossible to build a modernizing Academy that meets the challenges of the 21st century without prioritizing artificial intelligence, digital development in our agenda, management systems, and scientific environment," said the president of ANAS.

Academician Isa Habibbeyli stated that the "Electronic Academy" department was established within the administration of the Presidium of ANAS on January 18, 2023, to advance work in this direction at the Academy. He mentioned that many successes have been achieved in a short period of time. The "Wikipedia" electronic encyclopedia and scientific journals were given DOI identifiers, and significant steps have been taken for creation of the Digital Electronic Reference System and DergiPark of ANAS.

Noting that the cooperation and contract signed with TUBITAK are of great significance for implementing activities in this direction, the head of ANAS emphasized that an agreement was reached on mutual cooperation in several other areas related to artificial intelligence.

Academician Isa Habibbeyli stated that an electronic services department has been established in all scientific institutions and organizations of ANAS, and emphasized the importance of developing a personnel base in this field.

Academician Isa Habibbeyli noted that significant progress has been made globally in the development of drones and robotization. He emphasized that initial steps in robot technology have been taken at the Academy as well, highlighting the "Humanoid SUFI" (Word Processing with Universal Functionality) robot developed by the "Electronic Academy" department. He also underlined the cooperation with the National Aviation Academy in this field.

 “I consider that the reports and the ideas to be heard here, today, at the conference will lead to further expansion of perspectives on the application of artificial intelligence in science and technology, as well as digital development. They will contribute to setting future goals and tasks." –said Academician Isa Habibbeyli and in conclusion, wished success to the conference work.

Then, the head of the "Electronic Academy" department of the administration of the Presidium of ANAS, PhD in physics and mathematics Fariz Imranov delivered a report titled "Electronic Advancements in ANAS and New Challenges".  

He highlighted that in the first half of 2024, ANAS employees created 1322 new articles on the virtual encyclopedia "Wikipedia," fundamentally edited 2050 articles, and 57 individuals were involved in trainings. The quality rating (depth) of the Azerbaijani language section on "Wikipedia" is 46. The total number of articles amounts to 200,669, with a total of 7,687,487 edits made.

Fariz Imranov noted that "Crossref Publishers International Linking Association, Inc." has established a DOI prefix under the name ANAS (Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences). The DOI identifier is assigned for free to ANAS publications (journals, conference materials, etc.). "A DOI identifier has already been assigned to 1,120 articles published in 53 issues of 27 scientific journals of ANAS and to 26 conference materials."

At the same time, he emphasized that during the current period, 18,118 works by ANAS employees were registered in Google Scholar, with 12,636 references made to these works.

Academician Rasim Aliguliyev, the vice-president of ANAS, spoke at the event, noting that artificial intelligence models began to be developed in the 1940s, and an 80-year period is considered short for artificial intelligence. He highlighted the significant interest in artificial intelligence in our country, emphasizing that AI and digital development have become one of the key priorities in today's official state policy.

Vice-President of ANAS noted that important tasks related to artificial intelligence are outlined in Azerbaijan's state programs concerning the concept of digital development, information security, cyber security, and in documents aimed at the socio-economic development. Additionally, he underlined that based on instructions of the head of state, the National Strategy for the development of artificial intelligence in the country is being prepared.

Academician Rasim Aliguliyev also provided information about the research conducted in relevant research institutes of ANAS and the Ministry of Science and Education related to artificial intelligence, as well as research conducted using artificial intelligence applications.

Next at the conference, presentations were delivered by Academician Ali Abbasov, Director General of the Institute of Control Systems under the Ministry of Science and Education, and Jalal Nagiyev, a representative of the Agency for Innovations and Digital Development. They discussed the creation of a national corpus of the Azerbaijani language using artificial intelligence, as well as radiological and radioecological research conducted in the liberated territories with the application of artificial intelligence.

At the event, the reports on Artificial Intelligence were delivered by various experts as well.

Following that, the conference proceeded with sectional sessions covering topics such as “Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation: Trends and Outlook for the Future; Challenges of Digital Transformation; Robotics” and “Image Recognition; “Machine Learning; Natural Language Processing.”

It should be noted that, the conference website "https://aidd.anas.az" is currently operational and available for access.

Translator: Reyhan Majidli, Public Relations, Press and Information Department of the Presidium Administration of ANAS

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