Strengthening Industry Engagement
The IEEE Systems Council is expanding its industry-focused initiatives with a new Industry Committee and a series of global programs launching in January 2026. These efforts will strengthen IEEE’s role in system-level innovation, commercialization, and collaboration worldwide.
Industry Committee: Connecting Tech Leaders
The new Industry Committee, led by Bruno Iafelice, brings together technology executives, innovators, and venture partners to deepen engagement between industry and IEEE. Members include technology leaders from Google, Apple, IBM, venture capital firms, innovation clusters, and innovation parks across North America, Europe, Asia, and South America, as well as Stephen Ibaraki, global futurist, investor, and long-time IEEE contributor.
Starting in 2026, the Committee will expand collaboration with technical communities, support established companies and emerging ventures, and develop an investor network across leading innovation ecosystems.
2026 Hard Tech Venture Summit Series
A key 2026 focus is a strengthened partnership with IEEE Entrepreneurship to grow the Hard Tech Venture Summit series. These events will bring together entrepreneurs, investors, and service providers to showcase and accelerate hard-tech innovation.
The Industry Committee will organize two summits: the series kicks off in Silicon Valley in April at SRI-PARC, leveraging the region’s innovation ecosystem and SRI’s legacy of technology commercialization to connect deep-tech founders and corporate innovators. It continues in Toronto in October at MyantX, a hub for advanced textiles and wearable tech, focusing on smart materials, biomedical technologies, and advanced manufacturing.
In addition, a summit in Boston, co-located with the IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS), will be organized by the IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S), a member society of the Systems Council. A fourth summit might be added later in 2026.
While initially limited to North America, plans are underway to expand to global innovation ecosystems.
Building on the 2025 Milestone
The 2026 series builds on the success of the 2025 Hard Tech Venture Summit in San Francisco, started by IEEE Entrepreneurship and Joanne Wong, past IEEE Entrepreneurship Chair and Secretary of the Systems Council, who now leads the Summit series. Panels, round table discussions, networking, and live demos highlighted the growing hard-tech ecosystem and IEEE’s role in accelerating commercialization.
Lessons from 2025 are guiding the expanded 2026 series, ensuring broader reach, specialized programming, and stronger collaboration between entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and investors.
Looking Ahead
These initiatives reflect IEEE Systems Council’s strategic commitment to supporting technology commercialization, accelerating deep-tech innovation, and strengthening ties between researchers, startups, and large companies.
For more information, to get involved, or to share your ideas on this topic, connect via LinkedIn with Bruno Iafelice or the IEEE Systems Council website under Committees → Industry → Chair → Email.