Within the framework of the 3rd Forum of Azerbaijani Engineers Living in Europe, held in Hamburg, Germany, panel discussions were conducted on various topics.
The panel titled “Smart City and European Experience in Urban Planning” was moderated by Nurlan Rahimli, board member of the Alliance of Azerbaijanis in Germany and wind energy project manager at ERG S.p.A. (Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone), News Cover reports, citing Azerbaijan's State Committee on Work with Diaspora.
Speakers included Konstanze Chöpe, head of the artificial intelligence research group at the Fraunhofer Institute and professor at Brandenburg Technical University, who spoke on “Research at the Fraunhofer Institute and future outlook”; Anar Huseynov, director of the Center for Patent and Trademark Examination, on “Patenting and intellectual property”; Asif Mammadov, manager at CC7 MART®, on “Circularity of waste streams in green cities”; Alim Guliyev, technical service and digitalization manager at Holcim Germany, on “Plant of the Future – ORT as an integral element of smart cities and suburbs”; Elchin Abdullayev, chief project manager at Kim Engineering GbR, on “Sponge city concept – a solution for heavy rainfall and extreme heat”; and Kamran Agayev, electrical engineering student at the University of Massachusetts, on “AI-based health monitoring flight controller for UAV safety.” Nariman Topchibashev, director of PMD Projects LLC, also spoke about the company’s construction of mosques in Shusha and its broader reconstruction projects in Karabakh.
During the discussions, participants exchanged views on the development prospects of smart city concepts, innovative approaches in urban planning, protection of cultural heritage, the role of intellectual property in the modern economy, circular economy models, climate adaptation strategies, and the application of artificial intelligence in engineering.
The next panel, titled “Future Cities: Construction, Digitalization and Sustainability,” was moderated by Nicat Mehdiyev, manager and senior researcher at the Institute for Information Systems of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and lecturer at Saarland University. Speakers included Andreas Emrich from DFKI, who spoke on “Discovering hidden treasures – assessing demolition costs and material value using multimodal hybrid AI approaches”; Stefano Titotto, regional director at Breton S.p.A., on “Terastone – smart circular industries for future cities”; Azər Əliyev, founder and CEO of ClickClickPlay.com, on “Urban behavioral engineering”; Mirxaqan Mustafazadeh, founder and CEO of MUST Analytics GmbH, on “Real-time AI systems”; Kənan Mustafayev, project manager and engineer at ARGUS Stadt und Verkehr Hamburg, on “Efficient drainage of surface water on streets and roads”; and İskəndər Axundov, co-founder and CEO of AMCB Labs S.à r.l., on “Smart laboratory ecosystems and their challenges.” Müslüm İmranlı, First Deputy Head-Chief Architect of the Karabakh Regional Architecture and Urban Planning Administration under the State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture of Azerbaijan, also spoke about large-scale reconstruction efforts in the liberated territories.
The panel also addressed the growing role of digitalization in construction and urban management, AI-based solutions, resource efficiency mechanisms, sustainable industrial models, urban infrastructure management, and the strategic importance of innovative technologies in shaping future cities.
The panels created broad opportunities for knowledge and experience exchange among participants and were assessed as an important platform for discussing modern engineering approaches, artificial intelligence technologies, and sustainable development solutions, as well as strengthening professional cooperation among Azerbaijani engineers in Europe and sharing international experience.
