November 9, 2024

Lightdiodes

The Techno Universe

IEEE President’s Note: Looking to 2050 and Beyond

IEEE President’s Note: Looking to 2050 and Beyond

What will the foreseeable future of the earth look like? All the things in the world evolves. Thus, IEEE also ought to evolve, not only to survive but to thrive.

How will persons develop communities and engage with one particular a further and with IEEE in the long term? How will awareness be obtained? How will information be curated, shared, and accessed? What troubles will influence the improvement of technological requirements? How must IEEE be structured to be most impactful?


Whilst no a person has a crystal ball, predictions can be produced centered on evidence and traits. To get started the conversation all around these queries, I appointed the 2022 IEEE Ad Hoc Committee on IEEE in 2050. The committee chaired by IEEE Fellow Roger Fujii, is made to envision scenarios looking out to the yr 2050 and beyond to get a world wide perspective of what the planet could appear like and what possible futures may well indicate for IEEE.

The committee explored plausible situations across IEEE’s range of pursuits and scanned for motorists of alter in just present and rising technological know-how fields. It also analyzed the function IEEE need to get based on the discovered potential futures and mentioned subsequent ways in IEEE’s big spots of concentration, together with conferences, schooling, publications, criteria, membership, sustainability, and governance.

For instance, visualize that in 2050, your “cognitive digital twin” is constantly surfing the massive volumes of analysis papers and facts saved throughout open entry repositories to obtain details specifically applicable to your passions. It will also use its imaginative and resourceful logic to recommend new ideas and answers for you. This system will be pushed by synthetic intelligence, augmented fact, and virtual truth formulated to assistance make you extra effective and artistic in your vocation. What is IEEE’s job in this new surroundings?

Molding the IEEE of the foreseeable future

As a world organization, a significant problem of IEEE is that it supports a wide group. This also presents a great possibility to master and pilot several products, services, items, and options to meet the numerous established of members’ demands predicted for 2050 and beyond.

The technological know-how generation of 2050 will probable be intrigued in fixing mission-primarily based problems such as climate adjust, common access to wellness care, sustainable meals sources, and ubiquitous electrical power technology and transmission. Consequently, IEEE’s mission—to advance engineering for humanity—will even now be related in the long term. Having said that, the way IEEE achieves its mission will have to and will change.

The long term is multinodular and electronic. IEEE will advantage from its status and name as a dependable, neutral provider of content and information and facts. As a awareness supplier, IEEE has an prospect to curate and supply information and facts to assist its constituents and the public in comprehending the advantages and hazards linked with several technological innovation locations. Most importantly, IEEE can help with the deep integration of synthetic intelligence and virtual reality into a vast selection of each day apps.

Adapting to an atmosphere of continuous chaos and modify is critical transferring forward. The ebb and move of geopolitical tensions are probably to continue to increase—which will influence global businesses like ours. IEEE must turn into exceedingly nimble to address rapid changes in technologies and interdisciplinary desires, and draw in a broader audience. IEEE will also need to have to rapidly reply to chosen strategic improvements and allocate funding for new methods. IEEE’s governance composition will need to be streamlined to meet the demands of several foreseeable future situations that will have to have the organization to empower neighborhood entities to make decisions within just their location.

Trust in IEEE will have to stay large if the firm is to maintain relevance and remain a credible source of info in the foreseeable future. Now is the time for the organization to be considerate and daring, and take threats. IEEE can’t be afraid to break silos. Some functions will require to be terminated to make room for new types. Goods and initiatives need to be evaluated frequently, and decisions need to be made on a continuous foundation.

Sound frightening? Compounded by world warming, uneven demographic expansion, and geopolitical worries, the upcoming most likely is a lot more unsure than we recognize. But normally a crisis can be transformed into chance if we actually facial area the sudden and come to be well prepared for whatsoever lies in advance. Adhering to IEEE’s core principles—trust, growth and nurturing, world wide community making, partnership, company to humanity, and integrity in action—will serve the group effectively into the long run.

I sincerely thank Roger Fujii and the ad hoc committee members for their endeavours. Their perform will assist IEEE in devising extensive-term procedures to prepare for the future, to adapt, and to change uncertainty into opportunity.

As I have shared, in an ever-transforming and uncertain entire world, IEEE—your expert home—is normally below for you, our users, as nicely as for humanity, and for our shared potential. After all, serving our associates very well is our raison d’être.

By addressing the worries and alternatives that lie ahead of us, IEEE can keep on being a lively corporation with relevance each now and well into 2050. If IEEE continues to be real to its central values—fostering technological innovation and excellence for the profit of humanity—I’m particular that the organization’s long term will be extremely bright indeed.

It has been my honor and privilege to work with and for you this calendar year as IEEE president and CEO.


—K.J. RAY LIU

IEEE president and CEO

Remember to share your ideas with me at [email protected].

This post appears in the December 2022 print difficulty as “Looking to 2050 and Past.”