I am excited to share that the IEEE Board of Directors is pleased with the performance of HAC and has approved it to become a Humanitarian Technologies Board starting in January 2023. The bar-raising growth and impact that HAC has had over the last couple of years foundationally set the stage to advance HAC. This is a major event in the story of humanitarian technology activities at IEEE, and an honor to be recognized in this way.

It was an amazing journey to serve as the HAC Chair in 2021 - 2022 and launch highly impactful global programs. The committee’s focus was to achieve impact despite the challenging situation of the global pandemic and provide opportunities for meaningful member engagement.  Acting on its strategic areas of focus, HAC made significant advances in 2021- 2022 in the following ways:

1. Internal and external collaboration
2. Increased communication with the IEEE Board and other stakeholders 
3. Continuation of project and IEEE SIGHT excellence 
4. Launch of impactful global strategic programs and capacity-building efforts

Some of the key record-breaking highlights include:

• HAC/SIGHT Projects: 557 project proposals from 52 countries and 7 IEEE Regions 
• Membership growth: nearly 34,000 IEEE SIGHT individual members and 213 IEEE SIGHT Groups
• Collaboration and engagement with over 50 IEEE OUs and programs
  Development of a replicable model to offer joint calls for proposals with IEEE
• Regions and Societies
• Introduction of two major new reporting vehicles and a new style event, the HAC Global Summit

Over the course of the last two months, HAC conducted several capacity-building events to benefit members around the world. Together with the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT), HAC organized a workshop at the IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society 2022 (ISTAS). HAC also held an in-person workshop at the University of British Columbia, Canada, for students and professionals. It was also wonderful to inspire New Zealand SIGHT members at the 1st International Workshop on ICT for Combating Climate Crisis (ICT4C3). 

This month, HAC hosted the 2022 HAC Global Summit, the second instance of a truly unique event. It has garnered significant interest with 365 registrants. I would like to take this opportunity to thank 2022 IEEE President K. J. Ray Liu, 2022 IEEE President-Elect Dr. Saifur Rahman, the panelists, keynote speakers and all the participants who contributed to its success. The recorded sessions are available on the event platform; those interested in viewing them will need to register for the Summit and visit the “on demand” section of the program. As the founding Chair of the HAC Global Summit, I am confident that it will be scaled to greater heights in the coming years.

I’m excited that the 2022 SIGHT Volunteer of the Year has been determined. As the founding Chair of the SIGHT Awards, it’s special to see how the program has grown. This is a small way to recognize the amazing work of some volunteers - congratulations to this year’s recipient, the honorable mention, and my heartfelt thanks to all who embody our Award criteria!

It was an honor to serve as the HAC Chair and a delight to contribute to its successes made possible in large part by the dedicated efforts of our wonderful volunteers. Thank you to the  IEEE President and the IEEE President-elect, the HAC members, the HAC and SIGHT subcommittee members, collaborators, partners, donors, supporters, and staff team. You believed and invested in our programs and we greatly appreciate your support. I am pleased to welcome Lwanga Herbert as the Chair of the brand-new Humanitarian Technologies Board and wish him great success. 

I wish you all a joyful festive season and a happy new year.

Stay safe and healthy,

Sampathkumar Veeraraghavan 

2021 - 2022 IEEE HAC Chair

This year’s efforts have yielded some important highlights: 

• The growth of SIGHT membership to 33,977 as of 1 December 2022
• HAC & SIGHT volunteers are implementing 62 humanitarian technology projects as solutions to pressing community challenges while also promoting sustainable development
• Over thirty events and capacity-building workshops were held this year to increase the visibility of HAC/SIGHT 

It’s a pleasure to announce the 2022 SIGHT Volunteer of the Year. All the candidates are making wonderful contributions to SIGHT. There were some nominations, of course, that were especially impressive - this Award is well-deserved! I invite you to continue reading below to see who the recipient is.

Congratulations to Dr. Jawad Y. Siddiqui, the 2022 IEEE SIGHT Volunteer of the Year! Dr. Siddiqui was selected to receive this award due to his outstanding contributions to IEEE SIGHT, his leadership in furthering the collaboration between HAC, SIGHT, and the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S) to provide new humanitarian technology opportunities for IEEE members, and his dedication to serving his local community. Dr. Siddiqui was the founding Chair of a SIGHT Group in the IEEE Kolkata Section in 2016 and now serves as the Chair of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S) SIGHT Committee. You can read more about Dr. Siddiqui’s past and present contributions to HAC & SIGHT on the SIGHT blog.

Dr. Darwin Jose Raju has been selected as an honorable mention of the 2022 SIGHT Volunteer of the Year Award for his meaningful contributions in the last several years to IEEE SIGHT, and his dedication to furthering humanitarian technology activities at IEEE and the SIGHT mission.

Congratulations Dr. Siddiqui and Dr Raju! Your contributions to IEEE SIGHT are very much appreciated, and serve as inspiration for all.

The recipient of the SIGHT Group of the Year Award will be announced after the nomination period concludes; see below.

The nomination deadline for the 2022 SIGHT Group of the Year Award has been extended to 30 January 2023 to allow Groups time to submit their officers and events from 2022. Help us recognize your Group by submitting a nomination! More information including past recipients and raffle prizes is on the IEEE SIGHT website. Group of the Year recipients will receive a certificate of appreciation and official recognition on the IEEE SIGHT website, social media platforms, the monthly newsletter, and in various HAC/SIGHT reports.

*New in 2022* The IEEE SIGHT Group of the Year Award will have two categories – one for Student Branch SIGHT Groups and one for all other types of SIGHT Groups.

The IEEE in 2050 and Beyond white paper explores trends and plausible scenarios for the future. The paper concludes that while IEEE’s mission is likely to remain relevant in the future, IEEE will need to evolve to meet future needs. The potential futures and insights related to IEEE’ areas of interest described in this article are crucial for IEEE leadership’s understanding of the potential disruptions IEEE can expect to encounter as well as opportunities to thrive. For inquiries related to the paper, please email [email protected].

HAC Projects funded 62 projects this year through its own call for proposals and  collaborations with IEEE Societies and Regions. Each one provided a powerful opportunity for IEEE members to utilize their technical expertise in their local communities to help IEEE achieve its mission of advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. In the HAC/SIGHT call for proposals, members submitted 144 proposals from 19 countries and five IEEE Regions, of which 43 projects from thirteen countries and four Regions were funded. HAC also conducted calls with IEEE Antennas & Propagation Society (AP-S), where ten projects were funded; IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) where six projects were funded; and IEEE Region 8 where three projects were funded. 

• Oman Section SIGHT, Oman, Region 8
  
  
• VISAT Engineering College SB SIGHT, India, Region 10
  
  
• Costa Rica Institute of Technology SB SIGHT, Costa Rica, Region 9

In 2022, the IEEE SIGHT Operations Subcommittee approved the formation of 12 new SIGHT Groups!

Your donation of any amount to the IEEE SIGHT fund of the IEEE Foundation will help form the IEEE sustainable development leaders of the future and incubate projects that support IEEE’s mission of advancing technology for the benefit of humanity in communities around the globe.

See the free HAC/SIGHT resources on the IEEE Learning Network (ILN) and SIGHT website to equip participants with a basic understanding of humanitarian technology and sustainable development topics.