Innovations in Testing - HSTC 2019 - 8th Intl. Conf. on Testing - Key Learnings and Speech

“Leadership is a two-way street, loyalty up and loyalty down. Respect for one’s superiors; care for one’s crew.” - Rear Admiral - Grace Hopper - Co-Creator of COBOL , UNIVAC Programmer, First to find a Bug in Programming

We recently had the 8th International Conference on Testing focusing on the Intelligent Digital Mesh - QA & Testing. My Speech / Welcome address is included in this post.

Coming to the Theme - The Digital Mesh is connecting people, devices, content and services together. It is digitally matured, AI driven, Device Mesh using Analytics, IoTs and Clouds. The Device Mesh is an expanding set of endpoints: mobile, wearable, consumer, home electronics, automotive and environmental devices, including sensors in the IoTs, that people & businesses will use to reach applications and information or interact with others.

In a nutshell, this very vast for QA & Testing as validation & verification will be applicable in each step: as a standalone perspective like Cloud Testing, IoT Testing, Device Testing, Data Analytics Testing, Big Data Testing and certainly Digital Assurance as a whole, as an integrated testing perspective as and when it will be added to the Mesh.

SPEECH

Dear Distinguished Delegates, Speakers, Organizers, Sponsors, Ladies and Gentlemen,

As the Hyderabad Chapter Chair of Step-IN, It gives me great pleasure to extend to you all a very warm welcome on behalf of the STeP-IN Forum. We would like to say how grateful we are to the Sponsors and Speakers who have accepted our invitation to convene this 8th International Conference on Software Testing, here in the City of Nizams, Pearls and Biryani - Hyderabad.

There is a great quote from Alvin Toffler that goes like “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” 

In this knowledge economy, where “Data is the New Oil”, “AI is the new Electricity” and so on, keeping ourselves knowledgeable is key for our professional success and the success of humanity, as will get better by producing better services and propel humanity further.

 The need of the hour for professionals like us is like a quote from Mahatma Gandhi “ Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” Conferences such as this give us a medium to keep ourselves charged up to deliver better. It is said, the current shelf-life of new emerging technology is about 3-5 years. Involving ourselves regularly in a strong community focus helps us prove a brilliant quote by Benjamin Franklin - "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." We are here to learn, about digital mesh. 

Let me give you an overview of What’s STeP-IN is all about?

“There is no joy in possession without sharing.” – Erasmus. Caring is sharing. STeP-IN is aimed primarily at sharing the wealth and wisdom across testing professionals in India.

STeP-IN is India’s first and most comprehensive forum exclusively focused on Software Testing. STeP-IN Forum has played a pioneering role in shaping the evolution of Software Testing in India. The numbers reveal the true story!

 STeP-IN Forum has benefited more than 50,000+ test professionals, managers, architects, Vice Presidents and CXOs through a variety of conferences, contests, evening talks and webinars. Over the years, STeP-IN has produced over a dozen software testing conferences and themed events across different locations in India. The Annual STeP-IN SUMMIT has grown to be one of the largest Testing Conferences in the Asia-Pacific Region. STeP-IN, the Forum for Software Testing Practitioners came into being in October 2003 at Bangalore. STeP-IN? registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act, operates on a Non-Profit basis.

Within a span of a decade of its formation, STeP-IN has opened chapters at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Noida, Gurgaon, Trivandrum and more chapters are in formative stages.

The thought leadership for STeP-IN is provided by the Core Committee members and City Chapter Members, which comprise of stalwarts from the industry. The various posts of these committees are volunteered by the Leadership Team of various organizations.

Practitioners from the Indian Testing Fraternity support STeP-IN Forum by contributing their time and expertise towards its various activities.

As a part of HSTC we conducted a Test Autothon yesterday, A strong automation team competed against each other and we shall announce the results later this afternoon. Hyderabad, as you are aware is a key location for AI research and has a strong start-up incubator ecosystem.

Coming to the theme and abstract of the conference - Intelligent Digital Mesh – QA & Testing– Why did we choose this topic?

The Digital Mesh is connecting people, devices, content and services. It is digitally matured, AI-driven, Device Mesh using Analytics, IoTs and Clouds. The Device Mesh is an expanding set of endpoints: mobile, wearable, consumer, home electronics, automotive and environmental devices, including sensors in the IoTs, that people & businesses will use to reach applications and information or interact with others. 

In a nutshell, this very vast for QA & Testing as validation & verification will be applicable in each step: as a standalone perspective like Cloud Testing, IoT Testing, Device Testing, Data Analytics Testing, Big Data Testing and certainly Digital Assurance as a whole, as an integrated testing perspective as and when it will be added to the Mesh. 

Technology is so disruptive and pervasive. We are experiencing it all around us. If you look in detail, we are moving towards an interconnected world. Machine Learning AI make system self-adaptive. It is studying algorithms to learn and make predictions on the data. Data is a big source of AI. All collected information is given to an algorithm to learn and make predictions, control devices around you with various sensors and having looping back the data into the system to make it more real and accurate. Blockchain technology can be used in tracking billions of connected devices, enable the processing of transactions and coordination between devices. Some of the examples where we are experiencing this today are Home Automation, Connected/Driverless Cars, Healthcare, Logistics, Entertainment etc. 

In the industry I am associated with, the average drug development timeline is 12 years from concept to consumption. That too, from 1000s of candidates to a successful, life-changing drug molecule. With AI, things are changing. 

Hong Kong-based Insilico Medicine published research Monday showing that its deep learning system could identify potential treatments for fibrosis. That system, called generative tensorial reinforcement learning, or GENTRL for short, was able to find six promising treatments in just 21 days, one of which showed promising results in an experiment involving mice. The research has been published in Nature Biotechnology, and the code for the model has been made available on Github.

The CEO of Insilico Medicine Alex says- “We’ve got AI strategy combined with AI imagination”. Alex compares the operation of GENTRL to the AlphaGo machine learning system that Google’s Deepmind developed to challenge champion Go players.

The question to use as Quality Engineering Professionals is – How will we address the rapidly emerging challenges of testing more scenarios with less time, less cost and fewer resources? What is the answer to this $trillion puzzle?

We can certainly expect a lot of brilliant messages and concepts today through the speeches lined up to be delivered by some of the best in the industry, TEDx Speakers, Innovators, founders and thought-leaders.

Again, it's my privilege and honour to extend a warm welcome in the month September, celebrating teachers day and engineers days to this august presence. What we learn and do today will determine what we shall be in 3-5 years time. Let's celebrate the learning to keep sharpening our axe to excel in our life long journey of learning and excellence.

Thank you very much!

What do you think? Your comments are welcome.

Credits: Image created using CANVA. All Links correspond to public URLs available and credit goes to respective authors. Respective trademarks owned by corresponding firms. Opinions about tools highlighted are from a personal experience standpoint and in no way reflect the views of my current or past employers or clients. 

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