IEEE Report Highlights How Members Are Engineering for Public Good
Advancing technology for the benefit of humanity isn’t just the tagline for IEEE’s mission as a public charity. It’s something that the organization’s more than 500,000 members strive to do all the time. IEEE’s recently released 2025 Social Impact Report showcases a variety of programs volunteers worked on to increase public awareness of technology’s impact on society, many of which The Institute…
The IEEE's 2025 Social Impact Report highlights how the organization's 500,000+ members are engineering for public good through various programs. These initiatives aim to increase public awareness of technology's societal impact and advance solutions that improve lives worldwide.
One notable program is shaping trustworthy digital experiences for children online. A collaboration with Indonesian policymakers resulted in a new regulation to protect children, based on IEEE 2089-2021 and 2089.1-2024 standards. These standards provide practical steps to qualify online products and services for age-appropriate digital services.
Catalyzing humanitarian outreach includes the Mobile Outreach Vehicle (MOVE) program in India. The vehicle brings educational resources to communities and provides communication and technology support during emergencies. In 2024, MOVE supported survivors of Hurricanes Helene and Milton in the Southeastern United States.
Preserving tech history is another focus, with the IEEE Global Museum presenting traveling exhibits on technology's impact on society. Current exhibits include "Unseen Signals: E. Howard Armstrong's Radio Revolution" and "Microchips That Shook the World."
EPICS in IEEE provides technology solutions to nonprofit organizations while offering undergraduate students hands-on experiences. In 2024, a record-breaking $290,000 was awarded to 48 projects, including a Macedonia team creating IoT-driven sensing and display devices to measure and promote awareness of pollution in Skopje.
IEEE TryEngineering inspires preuniversity students to pursue technology and engineering careers. The initiative awarded $70,379 in grants to 58 programs worldwide, including a nine-day summer sleepaway camp for 310 students learning about aerospace and artificial intelligence.
IEEE-HKN, an honor society with over 200,000 members, contributed 110,442 volunteer hours to universities and communities in 2024. They held 827 service and outreach events and 137 STEM outreach activities. Together with IEEE, IEEE-HKN celebrated the 15th anniversary of their merger.
The IEEE Connecting the Unconnected Challenge encourages innovative solutions to bridge the digital divide. Last year's winners included a solar-powered community broadband network in Tanzania, a low-cost Internet access method using FM radio and SMS, and a strategy for utilizing India's rural broadband infrastructure to deliver medical services to underserved regions.
Supporting sustainable climate efforts involves fostering the exchange of technical knowledge and information for developing technologies that mitigate climate change. IEEE enhanced its standing as a neutral authority on technology's role in climate change mitigation and adaptation at COP30 and the International Symposium on Achieving a Sustainable Climate.
IEEE's global community of over 500,000 members and volunteers demonstrates the power of expertise mobilized for public good. Sophia Muirhead, IEEE executive director and chief operating officer, emphasized that technology can expand opportunity, strengthen communities, and improve lives when used responsibly and ethically.
Written by urgent.news from IEEE Spectrum's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
