President Stevo Pendarovski attended and addressed today the unveiling ceremony of a memorial plaque at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies, in honor of the exceptional achievement of Macedonian science with the innovation – “First Control of a Robot Using Brain Signals, 1988”.
The plaque is a recognition from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), for scientific achievements recognized as a milestone in world science.
Below is the full text of President Pendarovski’s address.
Distinguished hosts of this this event,
Distinguished Members of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am truly honored to be with you today on the occasion of a genuinely exceptional event of great importance for Macedonian engineering in particular, but also for Macedonian science and society as a whole. Within the Milestones program of the biggest global organization of technical professionals, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, an umbrella organization of more than 420.000 professionals from 190 countries, a Macedonian innovation was recognized as one of great importance for humanity.
Namely, it was a research made by the Faculty of Electrical Engineering way back in 1988, entitled First robot control by brainwave in the world. The research was conducted by Prof. Stevo Bozinovski, former FEIT professor and now Professor at the University of South Carolina in the US. In honor of this event, as of today, the premises of FEIT will have a memorial plaque reminding us of this significant research and achievement and of course, serving as motivation and inspiration for all current and future Macedonian engineers.
I wish to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to the Historical Committee of the IEEE for including a research made by a Macedonian institution within its 200 most important breakthroughs so far, which is undoubtedly an enormous recognition. In this context, I wish to mention the contribution of the Macedonian section in the IEEE which celebrated its jubilee last year, 25 years since its establishment. I encourage the members of the section to continue their activities with the same dedication as before, promoting expert achievements of their members and departments and of course, to continue trying to perfect technologies that would mean development and progress of mankind.
Dear friends,
Engineers are the driving force in every country, contributing to the welfare and progress of societies. Our country cannot be an exception to these global trends that dictate the development of national economies – however, this requires adequate valuing and a bigger support to engineering professions and their popularization among young people.
A prerequisite to this are coordinated and permanent activities and content. As the patron of an exceptionally important event which undoubtedly positively contributes in this sense – the Engineering ring award for the most successful students from various engineering disciplines, this year we celebrated 20 years of existence and I can confirm that we indeed have highly qualified and skilled young engineers.
Some of them are present here, in the teaching rooms and laboratories at FEIT. Events such as the Engineering ring and the Milestone program make an enormous contribution to the development of engineering and motivate and encourage all future engineers, today’s students. My presence here among you aims, once again, at reaffirming my strong support to the IEEE and their Milestone program.
This plaque at FEIT as one of our most renown institutions of higher education is a recognition of the achievements of our engineers which go far beyond national borders and belong to the welfare of the entire world.
Let this be an inspiration for all students, professors, future engineers to create and contribute to building a modern and technologically advanced world, made for man but established on the highest ethical norms and standards.
Thank you.
