Dr Rahat Iqbal is a Senior Academic, Director, Inventor, and Consultant with 25 years of experience in industrial and academic roles. He specializes in next-generation AI for developing smart and safe cities, connected and autonomous vehicles, industrial inspection, and computer vision technology. Before joining the University of Dubai, he led the Connected Mobility, Big Data, and IoT Research Group at the Institute of Future Transport and Cities (IFTC) and served as Director at Interactive Coventry, UK.Dr Iqbal has supervised to completion 20 PhD students and examined 22 doctorate theses. He has published more than 150 papers in international journals, conferences and books. He has edited several special issues of international journals and workshop proceedings. His work has resulted in high profile innovation awards, prestigious grants and 4 technology patents of high industrial uptake. Dr Iqbal has led projects funded through the Newton Fund, Conacyt, Innovate UK, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), European Regional Development Fund (DRDF) and Harvard University in collaboration with industry, governmental organisations and academic partners. Dr Iqbal has secured over £ 5.2M for research and commercial projects from EPSRC, Innovate UK, Technology Strategy Board, EU Regional Development Funds and commercial enterprises.Dr Iqbal is on the programme committee of many international conferences and workshops. He is also a fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (HEA).Dr Iqbal was invited by EIT digital (EU/UK) to deliver talk on “Data Analytics - Where is the value / what are the challenges”.Dr Iqbal has delivered a keynote speech on new mobility and smart city in FEAL, a prestigious event aiming to introduce the automotive industry in the Big Data era. The Future of Automotive in Europe” (http://fealautomotive.com/). Dr Iqbal visited Toyota Motor Manufacturing France and Toyota Boshoku (Valenciennes et Somain) with Chamber of Commerce of Coventry and Warwickshire.Dr Iqbal was invited to visit the Governor office of Jakarta, Indonesia to discuss potential solutions for traffic congestion problems.