The Higher Technical Teachers’ Training College (HTTTC), Kumba, University of Buea, proposes to organise its 3rd Annual International Conference on Innovation in Tertiary and Industrial Sciences under the theme “Artificial Intelligence, Emerging Technologies and the Future of Technical Education and Sustainable Development in Africa.”

The conference is conceived as a high-level interdisciplinary platform for researchers, academics, policymakers, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, technology professionals, teacher educators, students, development partners and other stakeholders to examine how emerging technologies can transform technical education, research, industry and sustainable development in Africa.

The rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, robotics, automation, Internet of Things (IoT), big data, digital platforms, renewable energy technologies and other emerging technologies is fundamentally changing the nature of work, education, production and social interaction. African higher education institutions and technical training systems therefore face both an opportunity and an urgent responsibility to prepare learners and educators for an increasingly digital and technologically driven economy.

For a technical teacher-training institution such as HTTTC Kumba, this transformation is particularly important. The College occupies a strategic position at the intersection of education, technical skills, engineering, agriculture, ICT, management, entrepreneurship and industrial development. The conference therefore seeks to create a space where research evidence, technological innovation, educational practice and industry experience can converge to generate practical solutions for Cameroon and Africa.

The conference will particularly focus on the question of how Africa can move from being primarily a consumer of emerging technologies to becoming a producer, adapter and responsible user of technologies that address local development challenges. The conference will generate four major outputs: high-quality research papers, policy and practice recommendations, strengthened university-industry partnerships, and a special publication of selected peer-reviewed conference papers through the Journal of Tertiary and Industrial Sciences (JTIS), subject to the journal’s editorial and peer-review processes. HTTTC’s existing conference model already provides for corrected conference manuscripts to be published in a special JTIS edition.