The “Buzz-word”
– Globalization
Sometimes the terms internationalization and globalization are
used interchangeably but there is a slight formal difference.
The term internationalization refers to the importance
of international relations, treaties etc. Inter+national means
between or among nations; hence internationalization refers to
the increased importance of relations between nations –
the basic unit remains the nation.
In contrast, the term globalization refers to integration
on a global scale into a global society, which blurs national
boundaries.
The term “globalization” is often used with a negative
connotation but within the IEEE, in general, and the EMC Society,
in particular, it bares our mission and vision.
Mission and Vision of the IEEE and
the EMC Society
IEEE’s technical activities’ core purpose is to foster
the development and facilitate the exchange of scientific and
technological knowledge that benefits members, the profession
and humanity.
The vision of the IEEE is to be essential to the global technical
community and to technical professionals everywhere, and be universally
recognized for the contributions of technology and of technical
professionals in improving global conditions.
Spelling this out, the details of the vision of the IEEE technical
activities are:
• Be the global information resource.
• Be the place where innovators meet.
• Be essential to the global technical community and be
universally recognized for contributions to improving world-wide
conditions.
• Be the home for all technical professionals in all disciplines
of interest and be a global information resource.
• Be recognized globally as the leading organization for
forming new knowledge communities, delivering quality information
and supporting technical professionals.
• Be the preferred place to go for timely, relevant scientific
information.
• Be the technical Society that professionals join and stay
active in as volunteers throughout their careers.
The EMC Society, operating within the scope of IEEE’s technical
activities shares its mission and vision, while focusing on electromagnetic
environmental effects of systems.
But how can this mission and vision be put
into practice?
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to
bring them all and in the darkness bind them....
What has this line from the legend of the Ring (“Lord of
The Rings”) got to do with it? Nothing and everything!
We live in the age of electro-technology, and our universe is
getting ever increasingly complex. Contemporary technologies cannot
exist on their own merit, but rather – the need for cooperation
between different electro-technical disciplines is indispensable.
As long as all electro-technologies rely on the movement of electrons
and electromagnetic energy, we, in the EMC Society, must be “in
the picture.” EMC is the “one ring that brings them
all (together) and in the darkness binds them.”
In its last meeting series (February, 2008), TAB held a “technology
roadmap” exercise in an attempt to initiate a process for
addressing emerging technologies at the Institute level. In that
exercise, 13 technology-driven marketplace sectors were introduced,
including communications, computing, critical infrastructure,
defense, education, energy, entertainment, environment, healthcare,
manufacturing, retail, transportation and “other.”
To which of those do EMC (or interference control) technologies
belong most? You guessed – to ALL! Even to “other”
whatever it may be!
In many senses, EMC is the “one ring that binds them all.”
EMC engineers often find themselves in the position of true system
integrators, addressing disciplines such as electrical, mechanical,
reliability, materials, product safety and many, many other disciplines,
not to mention interference control… EMC is an interdisciplinary
discipline.
Putting Interference Control Technology into Practice… or
“Finding the Ring”
To be effective, considering emerging technologies, the EMC Society
should develop its own technology roadmap within the IEEE. To
do that, a structured planning process must be established.
The first steps in establishing such a roadmap are:
• Satisfy essential conditions, including, for instance,
identification of a need for the technology roadmap, input and
participation from several different parts of the organization
with different planning horizons and different perspectives.
• Provide leadership. Committed leadership is required and
resources must be allocated because of the time and effort involved
in creating the technology roadmap.
• Define the scope and boundaries for the technology roadmap,
including the development of a clearly stated vision and a definition
of the scope of the roadmap.
• Identify the “product” that will be the focus
of the roadmap. In case of uncertainty of the product needs, scenario-based
planning can be used to determine the common product needs.
• Identify the critical system requirements and their targets.
Once it is decided what needs to be roadmapped, critical system
requirements can be identified, providing the overall framework
for the technology roadmap.
• Specify the major technology areas, which can help achieve
the critical system requirements. For each technology area, several
technologies can be found.
• Specify the technology drivers and their targets, where
critical system requirements are transformed into technology drivers
(with targets) for the specific technology area. These drivers
will determine which technology alternatives are to be selected.
• Identify technology alternatives and their timelines.
The technology drivers and their targets are specified and the
technology alternatives that can satisfy those targets are specified.
A timeline should be estimated for each.
• Recommend the technology alternatives that should be pursued.
Because the alternatives may differ in costs, timeline etc. a
selection has to be made of the alternatives. Trade-off are made
between different alternatives for different targets, performance
over costs and even target over target.
Strategic and Long Range Planning
In my previous (Winter 2008) message, I briefly discussed the
long range planning (LRP) activities carried out in the EMC Society.
Two LRP sessions are held annually, normally in conjunction with
the November and March BoD meetings. Such meetings have been held
for several years, resulting in the evolution of our Society in
its various fields.
Recent meetings focused on the activities listed above associated
with the preliminary phase. These meetings focused on four major
issues, namely: Membership, technology and standards, communications
and conferences.
In the November 2007 LRP session, the BoD members worked through
a large list of items, examining them for relevance, importance,
urgency and the resources necessary for accomplishing them. Weighting
each of these factors provided a “short list” of items
that can subsequently be considered for short, medium and long-range
implementation.
In the March 2008 LRP session, courses of action were discussed
for each of the items identified, considering their respective
weighting. Certain items are already being put into practice as
these lines are being written, while others require major efforts
(and resources) and will be implemented in the coming years.
In particular, Society-level “mega-issues” was identified.
These issues require exceptional resources and effort, across
several fields and governed under more than one VP. Such items
will be addressed at the BoD level.
Where do Initiatives and Ideas Come From?
Essentially, from YOU! Many ideas emerged from meetings held across
the globe, in various occasions, conferences, Chapter meetings,
and other global events. That is why it is so important that you
keep on communicating with us, letting us know of your needs and
desires, of how we may improve our service to you. After all,
our vision is to facilitate the exchange of scientific and technological
knowledge that benefits members, the profession and humanity.
We Cannot do it Alone… This is Truly
a Global Issue
Now I get back to the item I began with – Globalization.
Huge challenges face us in the age of technology. Meeting these
challenges is not the matter of a few. This is the power of the
EMC Society of the IEEE as a global Society: The capability to
put together professionals spanning across regions and countries,
thus blurring national boundaries.
In this age of information, it is not necessary to travel to take
part in the activities of the Society: All you need is internet
access and a few hours you are willing to contribute to this cause.
The EMC Society addresses technical activities through its techncal
advisory committee and its technical committees (TCs). A relatively
new TC is the “ETC,” the “Emerging Technology
Committee,” which is intended to address new technologies.
Such technologies are examined in the “ETC” for its
relevance to EMC technology and the manner of addressing it in
within the EMC Society.
Spreading the Word – Free Member Access to Digital Library
The word is spread in several manners: Through conferences and
symposia which are sponsored and co-sponsored by the EMC Society,
through our Chapters, and through services provided to our membership
through the Chapters, such as the distinguished lecturer (DL)
program or directly to the membership.
One example of such a service to our membership is the free access
to the EMC Society Membership Digital Library (MDL), offering
each member a virtualy unlimited (500 annually) number of free
downloads of publications such as symposia papers from the MDL.
A one year pilot program was offered in 2008, and now, in 2008,
the BoD has only recently approved this service for an unlimited
period. This is one way we are putting the membership dues to
work for our members’ benefit.
Be Prepared… EMC’2008 in Detroit
While mentioning conferences and symposia, mark your calender.
Time is running fast and the 2008 IEEE International Sympsoium
on EMC is just around the corner. Symposium Chair, Kimball Williams,
and his Committee have worked hard to prepare rich technical content
as well as social programs, and this is truly an event not to
be missed. EVERYONE SHOULD BE THERE! After all, that is the best
place for networking, professionally and socially alike.
EMC Education
Global challenges facing the EMC community require highly skilled
professionals. No matter how many EMC engineers there are, there
never seems to be enough. The Education and Students Activity
Committee (ESAC) of the EMC Society is seeking initiatives and
volunteers, yes – volunteers, for global EMC outreach programs,
spanning from kindergarten to high-school (K to 12). The ESAC
membership is open to all members from all regions of the IEEE.
Welcome New Chapters
Chapters are the primary resource of volunteers. Members of the
Chapters eventually end up being leaders of the Society. Increasing
Chapter activity serves, therefore, members and the Society alike.
The EMC Society is glad to welcome two new Chapters: The Hyderabad
(India) and the Argentina Chapters. We are especially thrilled
to have these two new Chapters. A large and active EMC community
exists in India, and the bi-annual INCEMIC Symposium held in India
is a living evidence of that. It is nice to have an IEEE EMC Chapter
there, too. And Argentina is a special addition to the EMC Society,
joining as a sister Chapter to its older Chapters in Brazil and
Columbia. The EMC Society can now expand its services to new regions
of the world, and, hopefully, also benefit from volunteers coming
from those regions. Regions 8 through 10 have been set, for a
while, as “top priority” in the EMC Society long range
planning for expansion of the EMC Society global outreach in all
fields, from membership development, continuing participation
in technical and standization activities and ending with regional
IEEE EMC conferences and symposia. We are actually observing in
our own eyes the materialization of some of our long range plaanning.
For improving our communications with our members and Chapters,
the EMC Society is also investigating possibilities of improving
its communications infrastructure with its membership, through
web-based activities. Keep your eyes open. Things ARE happening.
Planning 2009 BoD Meetings
The EMC Society BoD just held its first meeting of the year on
March 14, 2008 in Greenville, South Carolina. The next meeting
will be held on May 31, 2008 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The third
meeting series will be held, of course, in Detroit during the
Symposium, and finally, the last meeting will be held in Long
Beach, California, on November 20, 2008. You are more than welcome
to attend any of those meetings.
We are now considering sites for holding the 2009 BoD meetings.
Before making decisions as to the location of the meetings, I
would like to solicit invitations from members and Chapters to
host the meeting. If you are interested in hosting the BoD meeting
(we will make all arrangements and provide funding, do not worry),
possibly holding a Chapter meeting or mini-conference, we would
be glad to consider your invitation. Simply write to me at eb.joffe@ieee.org
and I will be glad to bring your invitation to the BoD for consideration.
Summary
This message covered only a few aspects of globalization and activities
carried out to develop and implement a technology roadmap by the
IEEE and the EMC Society. For a professional society like the
IEEE and the EMC Society, globalization and technology development
go hand in hand. Only through global outreach, membership and
Chapter development, as well as through technology exchange, can
these goals be achieved.
This is where we all come in…I would be glad to hear from
you with any suggestion, comment, or just a friendly message.
Please do not hesitate to e-mail me at: eb.joffe@ieee.org.
EMC
President’s
Message