IEEE SA Industry Connections Program Cultivates Collaboration

The IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA) Industry Connections (IC) program helps incubate new standards, communities, and standards-related products. This unique program achieves this by enabling early collaboration among organizations and individuals as they hone and refine their thinking on rapidly changing technologies.

The IC program offers the opportunity to develop a range of content and deliverables. These include proposals for standards, white papers, peer-reviewed guides and position papers, workshops, and other events, as well as other jointly developed tools.

An IC activity starts with a group of companies or individuals identifying a need to collaborate on a particular technology or topic. The process begins when the parties submit a proposal to the IEEE SA Industry Connections Committee (ICCom).

Once approved, the participants can start meeting, either in person or virtually. During these startup meetings, IEEE SA will assist the group’s leadership in operationalizing their work, establishing policies and procedures, and then will support them in the development of deliverables.

IC activities can either be entity-based or individual-based. In an entity-based activity, each party (e.g. a corporation, government agency, academic institution, or trade association) can have multiple representatives at any meeting while getting one vote on any group decision. In an individual-based connection, each person participates as an individual expert and has a single vote in the process.

Initially, IC activities focus their work on a specific technology and deliverable. Once the work is complete, the activity may dissolve or transition into something permanent for further development.

“One of our goals is to graduate participants into other IEEE SA initiatives and perhaps something ‘bigger’ in the IEEE,” said Rudi Schubert, IEEE SA Director for Industry Connections. “That could mean, for example, moving on to create a standard or become a new committee in a different part of IEEE. We always say that with Industry Connections, participants can do anything except standards. When you’re writing a standard you do that through the formal IEEE SA standards development process.”

Schubert has been working with the IC program for nearly 10 years. He said: “IC is really the incubation platform for next-generation standards from IEEE and standards-related products and services. We’re incubating new proposals for standards, often in new technology domains, as well as looking at the application of standards in particular industries.”

The ability of IC to serve as that incubator has allowed the program to cover many new technologies. “We’ve probably had an IC program of some sort around most of the emerging buzz-worthy topics in the last 10 years,” said Schubert. “For example, significant work around artificial intelligence and particularly the ethics and implications around AI started with Industry Connections about eight years ago. Now you see it frequently in the news, but we had groups forming on this as early as 2016.”

The IC program is very diverse and is unique within IEEE. “There’s nothing else like IC,” said Schubert. “It’s open to anyone to submit a proposal, and our team works to help facilitate the interactions between submitters and the review committee, making it a very nimble program.”

Kevin Lu, Professor at Steven Institute of Technology and Associate Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been an IEEE member for about 44 years. He is an IC program volunteer overseeing Industry Connection Committees (ICCom). ICCom is an appointed committee of volunteers who review proposals to initiate an IC activity. Since late 2009, Lu has reviewed more than 130 proposals, and there are currently more than 60 active IC activities.

Lu explains more about the diversity within IC: “My view is that the IC program is representative of IEEE SA in a sense. We have activities from across the IEEE SA practices, including Energy, Foundational Technologies, and Healthcare & Life Sciences. Now we’re looking at new things as well, such as quantum technology. These activities have a global presence, with participants from around the world.”

According to Schubert, IC has grown over time. He said: “There was a period from 2016 to 2020, where the program accelerated quickly, going from around 20 programs to around 50. We’ve stabilized in the range of 60+ programs active at any given time. Now, we’re getting a steady number of new groups coming on, while other ones are doing a good job completing their work and transitioning off.”

A unique feature of IC is its accommodation for various types of deliverables. Schubert sees this as an interesting challenge. “I would look at some of the deliverables as less traditional,” said Schubert. “As we are trying to focus groups on creating, and not just getting together for a conversation, we want tangible deliverables that are valuable to them and the IEEE.”

This flexibility can be especially helpful for emerging technologies and future casting. “Some groups use IC as a platform to look ahead,” said Schubert. “They imagine what could be, what their roadmap is, and how to get there. So you do see legacy technology standards groups leveraging the program as an ideation mechanism.”

Lu explained that activity groups sometimes need help to get to their deliverables. “They often need IC staff and volunteers to guide them. They may want to promote something but there needs to be a real application. We help to align their motivation or enthusiasm with IEEE goals.”

While IC is a program within IEEE SA, it’s not solely focused on standards. “IEEE SA runs the program and we love to see new standards come out of it, but we’re happy with anything that benefits IEEE,” said Schubert. “We’re happy to find IC activities a home in the larger IEEE. That’s our key. It’s not just for standards.”

“From a volunteer point of view, I think being involved with IC is a very rewarding experience,” said Lu. “We welcome new volunteers and I hope the next generation will join us.”

Schubert agreed. “I always find IC particularly rewarding and interesting because we have such a diversity of technical topics,” he said. “We get to interact with people from every field across IEEE.”

You can learn more about the IC program and current IC activities, and find out how you can get involved, by visiting the Industry Connections webpage.