IEEE President’s Note: Looking to 2050 and Beyond

What will the upcoming of the entire world glimpse like? Every thing in the world evolves. Therefore, IEEE also need to evolve, not only to survive but to thrive.

How will folks create communities and interact with a single an additional and with IEEE in the future? How will expertise be acquired? How will articles be curated, shared, and accessed? What troubles will influence the improvement of complex benchmarks? How need to IEEE be structured to be most impactful?

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Although no one has a crystal ball, predictions can be created centered on evidence and trends. To start off the discussion close to these concerns, I appointed the 2022 IEEE Advertisement Hoc Committee on IEEE in 2050. The committee chaired by IEEE Fellow Roger Fujii, is made to imagine eventualities seeking out to the calendar year 2050 and over and above to gain a world viewpoint of what the planet may appear like and what prospective futures could possibly mean for IEEE.

The committee explored plausible situations across IEEE’s vary of interests and scanned for motorists of modify in just present and rising technological innovation fields. It also analyzed the position IEEE must take centered on the recognized potential futures and mentioned up coming methods in IEEE’s significant places of aim, which includes conferences, education and learning, publications, specifications, membership, sustainability, and governance.

For instance, think about that in 2050, your “cognitive electronic twin” is regularly browsing the big volumes of study papers and information stored across open obtain repositories to locate information immediately relevant to your pursuits. It will also use its imaginative and inventive logic to advise new concepts and remedies for you. This platform will be driven by artificial intelligence, augmented fact, and virtual truth designed to assist make you extra productive and inventive in your job. What is IEEE’s purpose in this new environment?

Molding the IEEE of the foreseeable future

As a world wide firm, a sizeable problem of IEEE is that it supports a wide local community. This also presents a wonderful possibility to study and pilot different models, services, products and solutions, and methods to fulfill the numerous set of members’ requirements predicted for 2050 and beyond.

The technological innovation generation of 2050 will probably be interested in solving mission-dependent issues such as climate modify, common obtain to wellbeing treatment, sustainable food items resources, and ubiquitous power technology and transmission. So, IEEE’s mission—to advance technological innovation for humanity—will nonetheless be suitable in the future. However, the way IEEE achieves its mission ought to and will modify.

The long run is multinodular and digital. IEEE will gain from its position and track record as a trustworthy, neutral supplier of articles and information. As a information company, IEEE has an chance to curate and provide facts to aid its constituents and the general public in comprehending the gains and hazards linked with many know-how areas. Most importantly, IEEE can help with the deep integration of synthetic intelligence and virtual fact into a huge variety of day-to-day purposes.

Adapting to an atmosphere of continuous chaos and adjust is vital transferring ahead. The ebb and stream of geopolitical tensions are possible to proceed to increase—which will influence world wide companies like ours. IEEE ought to develop into exceedingly nimble to tackle fast modifications in technologies and interdisciplinary desires, and draw in a broader viewers. IEEE will also want to promptly respond to chosen strategic changes and allocate funding for new strategies. IEEE’s governance framework will need to be streamlined to meet the desires of many upcoming scenarios that will require the organization to empower community entities to make conclusions in just their region.

Believe in in IEEE must continue being substantial if the group is to manage relevance and keep on being a credible supply of facts in the upcoming. Now is the time for the firm to be thoughtful and daring, and take risks. IEEE cannot be scared to crack silos. Some pursuits will want to be terminated to make house for new kinds. Solutions and initiatives ought to be evaluated often, and decisions must be designed on a steady foundation.

Audio scary? Compounded by world wide warming, uneven demographic development, and geopolitical difficulties, the foreseeable future possible is a lot more unsure than we comprehend. But typically a crisis can be transformed into opportunity if we actually confront the sudden and turn into prepared for whatsoever lies forward. Adhering to IEEE’s main principles—trust, advancement and nurturing, worldwide community building, partnership, company to humanity, and integrity in action—will provide the organization perfectly into the upcoming.

I sincerely thank Roger Fujii and the advert hoc committee associates for their initiatives. Their do the job will assist IEEE in devising extended-time period methods to put together for the potential, to adapt, and to change uncertainty into opportunity.

As I have shared, in an at any time-switching and unsure entire world, IEEE—your expert home—is constantly below for you, our users, as perfectly as for humanity, and for our shared potential. Immediately after all, serving our associates well is our raison d’être.

By addressing the worries and chances that lie ahead of us, IEEE can continue to be a lively group with relevance both equally now and very well into 2050. If IEEE continues to be accurate to its central values—fostering technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity—I’m sure that the organization’s future will be really dazzling certainly.

It has been my honor and privilege to get the job done with and for you this year as IEEE president and CEO.

—K.J. RAY LIU

IEEE president and CEO

Be sure to share your thoughts with me at [email protected].

This write-up seems in the December 2022 print challenge as “Looking to 2050 and Outside of.”