IEEE - 2022 Summit Award
The IEEE Humanitarian Activities Committee (HAC) was launched in 2016 as a committee of IEEE reporting to the IEEE Board of Directors (BoD), with the goal of creating and supporting a large network of volunteers around the world carrying out and/or supporting impactful humanitarian activities on the local level. HAC and SIGHT support feet-on-the-ground projects, the volunteer community, assessment, partnerships, and operations.
IEEE SIGHT, a major program of the IEEE Humanitarian Activities Committee, focuses on sustainable solutions that make a long-term difference in the lives of people, by operating through local volunteers and partners working with local communities. For SIGHT, success is only achieved through partnerships, starting with the community and extending to government organizations, NGOs, schools, hospitals, companies, and others.
In 2011, the IEEE SIGHT program was conceptualized and launched in Kerala, India by former IEEE Humanitarian Ad Hoc Committee Chair and IEEE Kerala Section Chair Amarnath Raja.
In 2021, we received 385 project proposals from 45 countries and selected 92 projects to support. Examples of recent projects include:
• Automated and Sustainable Drip Irrigation System in Rural Nicaragua
• Deployment of a wireless communication system for catastrophic emergencies in the US
• Crowfoot Education Center for Aboriginals in Canada
• Intelligent Animal Attack Prevention System for Crop Protection in India
To maximize the ability for projects to succeed, IEEE SIGHT supports a robust and comprehensive application and review process. This starts with opportunities for education on how conduct humanitarian technology projects for prospective applicants, to a multilevel review of applicants, including final review by the IEEE Office of Insurance and Risk Management, to mid-project review and support and end of project review and follow-up.
HAC also launched the inaugural HAC Global Summit that brought together world leaders and project implementers to discuss how technology can be advanced to address the grandest challenges. This perfectly matches with the larger mission of IEEE.