Institution news
During this session, Associate Professor Dr Sami Hajjaj delivered a technical talk entitled “Design for Entrepreneurship” to a group of 50 students from UNITEN, moderated by Dr. Chua Yaw Long, who is the current IMechE SEAR Chair.
About the Speaker
Associate Professor Dr Sami Hajjaj is a seasoned academic with over 20 years of experience in teaching, research, and professional experience. He is a certified Professional Engineer (PEng), a Chartered Engineer (CEng), and a Senior Member of IEEE (SMIEEE), among other professional and industrial recognition.
Associate Professor Dr Sami Hajjaj research focuses on combining Robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to develop integrated systems, specifically, on IoT-enabled Robotics, AI-powered IoT systems, Industrial IoT, and related systems.
Associate Professor Dr Sami Hajjaj has won multiple international Gold awards for innovation, from which he registered several IPs, and helped launch a few technology-related start-ups. He is also a published author, having published works in Q1 journals, and published engineering books with renowned international publishers.
He is currently the Program Director for the School of Robotics for bachelor’s program BEng in Intelligent Robotics Engineering with Contemporary Entrepreneurism, at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), in Suzhou, China. As the name suggests, entrepreneurship plays a fundamental part of the teaching philosophy at XJTLU, and specifically in Robotics education.
Take Away Points from the Seminar
In this talk, Associate Professor Dr Sami Hajjaj shared his experience and practice on innovative engineering design, on translating innovative ideas into successful start-ups, and on entrepreneurship-based education.
Associate Professor Dr Sami Hajjaj shared during the sessions to focus on the ability to “Think Different, but remain relevant”. The following pointers were presented during the session.
- How to develop a Creative Design
- Creativity; a Natural or a Learned skill?
- How to test and perfect your ideas
- Translate your creative design into a successful Start-up
- Entrepreneurship-based education at XJTLU, experience sharing.
The session ended with Associate Professor Dr Sami answering questions from the students and a group photo.
