A 70-Year Industrial Electronics Society Evolution Through Industrial Revolutions: The Rise and Flourishing of Information and Communication Technologies
The Industrial Revolution, which originally involved the change from an agrarian and handicraft economy to a market dominated by factory mechanization during the early 18th century, has profoundly shaped the world. It has progressed through four disruptive phases: Industry 1.0 through Industry 4.0. Industry 1.0 encompassed early automation, while Industry 2.0 began at the end of the 19th century, when enormous technological advances were made, such as mass production, electrification, and new modes of transportation. Industry 3.0 began during the 1970s, a decade that gave rise to the electronics, telecommunications, and computing that enable full automation and robotics. Industry 4.0 kicked off at the dawn of the third millennium, marked by the ubiquitous use of Internet technologies, which have radically transformed how people, society, and industry interact. The inception of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society (IES) was in 1951 [1], when Industry 2.0 was at its peak and members of the Institute of Radio Engineers Industrial Electronics Group saw the changing technological landscape in electronics. Those IES pioneers established the Society to promote “industrial electronics,” which are defined by Cambridge Dictionary as electronic equipment for industrial purposes. This early vision lives on and is even more relevant today, as industry and society expect technological advances to be relevant and impactful.
