The Graduate School of Technology Management hosted the 24th International Conference for the International Association of Management of Technology (IAMOT 2015) in June 2015, some seven years after the 2008 financial crisis. During this time many businesses closed down or were forced to adjust their business model in many countries around the world. Some other companies survived using not the norm but followed some would say unusual ways to sustain or exceed their growth potential. This points to an Innovation and Technology based approach to survival. Technology is seen by many leaders of businesses as enabler for innovation. Technology and Innovation is considered as intertwined construct. As example of novel use of technology for sustainability certain companies have resorted to innovative shopping experiences using both physical and virtual technology shopping channels during this time.

The theme chosen for the IAMOT 2015 international conference thus seemed logical in this context to be Technology, Innovation and Management for Sustainable Growth. The primary focus of the conference has been to bring together specialists, researchers, scholars and industry participants from all over the world to exchange and share their experiences and latest research results in all aspects of technology, engineering and project management as well as industrial and systems engineering. If one considers that one way to ensure or strive for sustainability in business and society is to address the issue of extending the geographic reach of the business the venue for this year’s IAMOT 2015 international conference as Cape Town in South Africa, a first in the history of IAMOT conferences, may also be seen as appropriate and hopefully contributing to the sustainable creation of technology knowledge.

Papers and presentations were presented on, inter alia,  

416 abstract submissions were received for the IAMOT 2015 conference on the above-mentioned topics, representing more than 700 authors and 33 countries around the world. There were more than 198 final full conference papers that were accepted and published in the IAMOT 2015 conference proceedings.

Photos of the conference can be viewed on the GSTM’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153378638335842.1073741827.341295325841&type=3&notif_t=like

Conference Chair & Editor: Leon Pretorius, D Eng

Conference Co-Chair: Marthinus W Pretorius, PhD