Globalization
I just returned form the LEOS Annual Meeting that was held in Sydney, Australia. What a great experience! The technical sessions were strong, the city of Sydney was a wonderful place to explore, and the Australian photonics community opened their arms to all of us. There were also many LEOS members who took an extra couple of days to visit some of the research and development centers in Australia. This was a great opportunity for both our LEOS members and the photonics community in Australia.
During the awards ceremony I was delighted to notice the internationalization of the LEOS membership. Part of this realization came from looking at the culturally diverse audience from the podium and part was due to the large number of long and difficult names I had to pronounce (I didn’t do this very well either). I also noticed the great pride that local industry and universities took as they got the opportunity show off their world-class products and facilities to their peers and in some cases their competition. After all, the discovery and development of new and better photonics technologies is a global endeavor. This is one of the most important reasons that the LEOS Annual Meeting needs to continue moving to the photonics hot spots around the world.
Over the past 20 years there has been tremendous growth in the international membership of LEOS. At the current time over 47% percent of the LEOS membership is outside of the United States. As a result of this change in membership demographics, LEOS leadership has accepted the fact that they can no longer act like a North American based professional society. To meet the needs of this increasing global membership, in 1996 the volunteer vice presidential structure was changed to include three Vice Presidents for Membership and Regional Activities: Americas; Europe, Middle East, Africa; and Asia & Pacific. The intent of this change is to try to make sure that the needs of all our culturally diverse membership can be met by the LEOS organization. The result of this change in attitude is providing an opportunity for LEOS to explore new services that can help and benefit members all around the world. One of these new services that we will provide this year will be more web-based content that will be available to all our members regardless of where they live. We have recorded approximately 100 of the talks given at this LEOS Annual Meeting and will make them available to member’s desktops via streaming video through our website. We are also looking for other services that can help all our members.
As the society president I hope you are excited about the truly international professional society that LEOS has become. In a world of global markets and opportunities LEOS has truly become a leader. If you have any comments or suggestions, please contact me at h.s.hinton@ieee.org.