Dear ITeN readers, Happy New Year 2026!

As I start my term as President, I would like to share with you my views on the present and, more importantly, the future of IES.

IES is one of the most active and energetic societies within IEEE. This is the result of the commitment and excellent work of our members and volunteers all over the world. IES is also one of the fastest growing IEEE societies, approaching 14,000 members at the time I am writing this message. This is a testament to the benefits of IES membership for both professional and personal development, with the establishment of long-term, fruitful collaborations and friendships.

As the Society is growing, so are our activities and support to the IES community. In addition to our highly successful global conferences and publications, IES actively contributes to local and regional events. In this regard, the new Hubs & Nodes initiative is achieving very promising results, increasing member involvement worldwide and promoting strong industry-academia-government interactions for the benefit of their communities.

Student and young professional (SYP) activities has always been one of the strategic areas where IES has invested more efforts and resources. Our support to Student Branch Chapters, student competitions, SYP forums, etc. has witnessed impressive growth in recent times and, not unexpectedly, the response of SYPs has been extraordinary. The most recent example was the second IES SYP Congress in Tunisia in 2025, which consolidated the great success of the first edition in Hyderabad in 2024 and will continue with the third edition, to be held in Brazil this year.

These are all excellent news, but they also come with significant challenges ahead. As IES activities grow, so does the need to involve more volunteers in their organization, who will hopefully become soon the new generation of IES leaders. In this regard, we plan to extend our training programs for volunteers willing to engage in all IES operation areas and, particularly, in SYP and industrial activities.

Last, but not least, IES recognizes that the strong commitment and contributions from all people involved in IES operations (not only members and volunteers, but also authors or reviewers in our publications and conferences, sponsors of our events, and many others) deserves far more recognition than that they are currently being given. This is the reason why a new IES Incentives Program is being launched, aimed to identify the incentives that would be more valued by the members of the wider IES community, to strengthen it all over the world.

I invite all of you to get strongly involved in IES activities and to bring active colleagues with you. If there is something we are particularly proud of at IES is of being a very welcoming and friendly Society, which, as many of you know, we like to refer to as “the IES family”.

Best wishes for 2026!

Juan J. Rodriguez-Andina

IES President