Ensuring the Rapid Response to Change, Ensuring the Surveyor of Tomorrow, FIG Kick-Off Event, 24 January 2015, Athens, Greece
FIG President Chryssy Potsiou with Council members Rudolf Staiger, Diane Dumashie and Pengfei Cheng
Around 60 International participants and more than 100 Greek surveyors attended the FIG Kick-Off Event that took place on 24 January 2015 to celebrate and mark the change in FIG Leadership. Representatives from Greece and the International FIG Community spoke over the theme "Ensuring the Rapid Response to Change, Ensuring the Surveyor of Tomorrow" that is also the new theme of FIG for the term 2015-18. FIG Council will use all input from the day to adjust and finalise the FIG Work Plan 2015-18 with the good and relevant information and knowledge provided during the day.

News in 2015

Ensuring the Rapid Response to Change, Ensuring the Surveyor of Tomorrow, FIG Kick-Off Event

24 January 2015, Athens Greece

Chryssy Potsiou at the Kick Off Event. Photo by Kenneth Swindaman

At the FIG Congress 2014 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the new FIG President, Vice Presidents and Commission Chairs were elected for the period 2015 – 2018. FIG celebrated this transition on 24 January 2015 in Athens with a Kick-Off Event and seminar. The main theme of the seminar was “Ensuring the Rapid Response to Change, Ensuring the Surveyor of Tomorrow”, which is also the theme for the current FIG Council 2015-2018. Invited speakers addressed the theme. The Kick Off event also celebrated the change in leadership of FIG.

Around 60 International participants and more than 100 Greek surveyors attended the event. Because of the Greek election that was scheduled to take place on the following day, the General Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, energy and Climate Change was not able to attend, nor the President of the Technical Chamber of Greece (TCG) Christos Spirtzis, but the rest of the programme was carried through as planned. The presentation by Dr. Vanessa Laurence Co-Chair of the United Nations Committee of Experts of Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM), took place by Skype. The event was organised by the Technical Chamber of Greece together with FIG.

Special thanks to the Gold Sponsors of the event: Attica Bank and Eurobank, as well as the Silver Sponsor: Marathon Daa Systems, and the Bronze Sponsors: Gaia SA, Geosystems Hellas, and the Association of Geoinformatics and Cadastre Companies.

The day started with the traditional FIG Fanfare where after FIG Past President CheeHai Teo (2011-14) handed over the FIG chain to President Chryssy Potsiou. At the end of the day there were certificates to mark the outgoing Commission Chairs who have served as Chair for the past 4 years, and the new Commission Chairs were all given the special FIG Bronze pin to mark their new positions as Chair.

The FIG Council 2015-2018, from left VP Rudolf Staiger, President Chryssy Potsiou, VP Diane Dumashie and VP Pengfei Cheng. VP Bruno Razza is not present in the picture. Photo by John Hohol

The wonderful view to Acropolis from the center of Athens. Photo by John Hohol

 

After the event FIG Council will use all input from the day to adjust and finalise the FIG Work Plan 2015-18 with the good and relevant information and knowledge provided during the day.
FIG Council and Commission Chairs also held meetings during the event in Athens.

(More to follow)

The programme in pdf

Programme and handouts

MORNING SESSIONS Chair: Robin McLaren, Know Edge Ltd, RICS
Welcome address by Greek hosts Christos Spirtzis, President of TCG

Chronis Akritidis General Secretary of TCG
Speech

Giannis Machikas President of HARSE

Socrates Alexiadis, General Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change

Prof Angelos Siolas, Vice Rector of National Technical University of Athens (NTUA)
 

Prof Marinos Kavouras, Dean of the School of Rural and Surveying Engineers, NTUA
Handouts

Gikas Manalis, CEO, Attica Bank, (Gold sponsor)

Dimitris Andritsos, MSc MRICS Chief Executive Officer, Eurobank Property Services SA, (Gold sponsor)
Handouts

Looking ahead Prof Chryssy A. Potsiou, Associate Professor, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, NTUA FIG President
Ensuring the Rapid Response to Change, Ensuring the Surveyor of Tomorrow
Handouts

Dr Vanessa Lawrence CB, Co-Chair of the United Nations Committee of Experts of Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM), formerly Director General and Chief Executive of Ordnance Survey (Skype presentation)
The importance of surveying: looking to the future
Handouts - extra

Economic Developments Prof Nicolas P. Retsinas, Harvard Business School Boston
Opening Doors to Private Investment
Land Management Developments Paul Munro-Faure, Deputy Director of the Climate, Energy and Tenure Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Global FAO guidelines on governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests
Handouts

Gavin Adlington, Lead Land Administration Specialist, The World Bank
Cadastral Survey in the 21st century, and why the 19th Century matters
Handouts

  John Kontos, Marathon Data Systems (Silver sponsor)
Handouts
AFTERNOON SESSIONS
Technological Developments Prof Pengfei Cheng Director General, National Quality Inspection and Testing Center for Surveying and Mapping Products of China, and FIG Vice President
Developing Emergency Mapping, Meeting the Surveyor of Tomorrow
Speech

SeeLian Ong, KMN Property Developer and Consultant, formerly Global President of RICS, Chair of FIG Commission 10
Building Information Modeling (BIM)-Global Maturity in Adopting BIM
Handouts

  Chair: Diane Dumashie, RICS, FIG Vice President
Professional and Institutional Developments Kees de Zeeuw, Director, Kadaster International, The Netherlands
A new era: Dynamic Information Management
Handouts

Robin McLaren, Know Edge Ltd
Tomorrow’s Surveyor Today – Member Associations' Responsibilities
Handouts

Brent A. Jones PE, PLS Global Manager, Cadastre/Land Records Esri
The Changing Value of Professional Associations
Handouts

Malcolm Lelliott, General Secretary of EGoS
The Private Sector and its Response to Change. Mobility of Professionals within Europe
Handouts

Artemis Valani, Surveying Engineer, Consultant
The experience of a Greek Young Surveyor
Handouts

FIG Response to Change Robert W Foster, PE,PLS FIG Honorary President, past ASCM President
Looking Back, Looking Ahead
Handouts

CheeHai TEO, Licensed/Chartered Surveyor, Malaysia Former FIG President
FIG: 2011 – 2014
Handouts

Prof Rudolf Staiger, Professor, Dept. of Surveying Engineering and Geoinformatics, University of Applied Sciences Bochum FIG Vice President
ACCO-Achievements and future Goals
Handouts

John Hohol, President of FIG Foundation
The FIG Foundation -‎ Building A Sustainable Future. Activities and Accomplishments During The Past Four Years
Handouts

Marc Vanderschueren, Director/Surveyor in Charge of the International Relations for the General Administration of Patrimonial Documentation of Belgium
Technical and Political Support of FIG and FGF (Federation of French Speaking Surveyors) for the African Associations of Surveyors
Handouts

Prof Chryssy A. Potsiou Associate Professor, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, NTUA
FIG President
The FIG Work Plan 2015-2018
Handouts (2nd part)

Closing of Inauguration ceremony

 

Louise Friis-Hansen
FIG Manager
Copenhagen, 28 January 2015

28 January 2015