Sarawak wins the right to host the 8th International Symposium on Digital Earth

(Perth, Australia) Malaysia has beat off tough competition from Europe to secure the right to host
the 2013 International Symposium on Digital Earth (ISDE) in Kuching. The win was announced at the
closing ceremony of the 2011 conference by the President of the International Society on Digital
Earth. Almost 1000 delegates from twenty five countries gathered in Perth Australia to hear the
announcement. 

The notion of “Digital Earth” was developed in 1991 by US Vice President Al Gore, and referred to
the use of technology to gather, store and analyse the geography and systems that make up the
earth. The growth in this sector is used widely from the mining and oil and gas industries, to
predicting weather patterns, responding to global disasters, and the most commonly used digital
earth tool is Google Earth. 

22 years later, in 2013, the 8th ISDE will be held in the city of Kuching, in Sarawak Malaysia. Digital
Earth tools were used extensively in Sarawak over the last few year to plan for 12 new hydroelectric
dams as part of a Malaysian nation building project known as SCORE, and this will be an area of
interest to delegates. 

Professor Dr Mazlan Hashim, the head of the Institute of Geospatial Science & Technology at
Universiti Teknology Malaysia is the chairman of the Malaysian host committee, and along with Scott
Campbell, Executive Director of the Kuching based International Centre for Industry Development
(GRAIN – ICID), was on hand in Perth to receive the conference flag, which was presented to
Malaysia by the Australian conference organisers. The conference flag is passed from country to
country as a symbol of who is hosting ISDE. 

Professor Dr Hashim addressed the delegates,” we are honoured to be given the prestigious right to
host this conference in Malaysia in 2013, we will be working towards having record attendance and
aim to make it the best conference ever”. 

Scott Campbell added, “The ISDE8 will bring experts from around the world to Kuching, and will be
held during the 12 month International Festival of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and
Math) which is occurring throughout 2013 in Sarawak Malaysia. The International Festival will see 10
conferences in related fields descend on the State, involving United Nations Organisations, members
of the Science States Alliance, over a dozen international associations, the Commonwealth Office,
the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the European Commission”. 

The bid to host ISDE8 was won with support from the Sarawak Convention Bureau (SCB) and
Malaysian Convention and Exhibition Bureau (MYCEB). "The island of Borneo is a perfect case study
for the use of digital earth technology and hosting this important symposium will assist both
government and industry players in their future development planning." Said Jill Henry (CEO of the
SCB), and Mr Zulkefli Sharif (CEO of MYCEB). 

In addition to the many flow on benefits, this conference will attract up to 1200 delegates to
Kuching, and will inject an estimated RM1.7 million into the local tourism industry. The
announcement being made can be viewed at www.industrygrowth.net