The 1st International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) for Engineering, known as AIIE 2026, was held on November 11, 2026 at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of NED University of Engineering and Technology (NED UET) in Karachi. The conference was organised by the Intelligent Mechanical Engineering Systems (IMES) Lab and took place alongside the 5th AI and IoT Exhibition, which gave the one-day event a space for both academic discussion and the display of technology. The lab shared the news on its official LinkedIn page, where it had invited participants to join in the days before the event.
The conference brought together researchers, academics, industry professionals, students, and innovators for a day built around innovative ideas, new technologies, discussions, and research presentations. A key aim was to create meaningful connections between academia and industry, which is important in fields such as mechanical engineering where AI and IoT are being used more often in areas like monitoring machines, automation, and data-driven design. Holding the conference in a mechanical engineering department placed the focus on how these technologies apply to engineering problems rather than on computing alone.
The exhibition that ran with the conference was the fifth edition of the AI and IoT Exhibition, and it formed part of the same day of activities at NED UET. Exhibitions of this kind give students and researchers a chance to show their projects and prototypes to visitors from industry and from other universities, while conference sessions allow them to present their research and receive feedback. The combination of the two formats reflects the approach that the IMES Lab described in its announcement, which emphasised ideas, technologies, and connections in a single programme.
With AIIE 2026, the IMES Lab and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at NED UET added an international conference to their series of AI and IoT activities, and the organisers described it as the first conference of its kind under the title of AI and IoT for engineering. The event was promoted with the message that the future of engineering awaits, and its hashtags, including AIIE2026, IMESLab, NEDUET, and EngineeringInnovation, pointed to the emphasis on research and innovation. The department and the lab are expected to share further details from the day, such as the research presentations and the projects displayed at the exhibition, through their official channels.
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