This article continues the series of ten interviews with the Officers of the IEEE ComSoc Member and Global Activities (MGA) Council for the term 2024–2025, which is published every month in the Global Communications Newsletter.

In this series of articles, I introduce the Vice President and the six Directors on the MGA Council (namely: Member Services, Industry Outreach, and AP, NA, LA, and EMEA Regions), as well as the three Chairs of the Women in Communications Engineering (WICE), Young Professionals (YP), and Sister Societies Standing Committees. In each interview, they present their sector activities and plans one by one.

In this issue, I interview Fawzi Behmann, IEEE ComSoc Director of Industry Outreach.

Fawzi is the founder and president of TelNet Management Consulting Inc., specializing in smart networking solutions across industries like healthcare, mobility, and smart cities. With over 35 years of experience, Fawzi has held executive positions in leading companies like Motorola, Nortel, and Teleglobe. He has contributed extensively to telecommunications, IoT, 5G, and AI technologies. He was the chief architect for Telecom Network Management systems and directed strategic marketing for SoC semiconductor products. A distinguished lecturer and keynote speaker, Fawzi has co-authored the book Collaborative Internet of Things and has published over 50 papers. He co-founded the IoT in Healthcare Consortium and is a Texas State University faculty advisor. Fawzi holds a BSc in Mathematics, a Master’s in Computer Science, and an Executive MBA. He has received several prestigious awards, including the IEEE USA Regional Professional Leadership Award (2018) and the Freescale CEO Diamond Chip Award (2008).

Stefano: Hello Fawzi! Would you like to begin by introducing the ComSoc Industry Outreach Board to our readers?

Fawzi: IEEE Industry Outreach encompasses various initiatives connecting the IEEE community with industry, including industry engagement, standards development, and professional development opportunities. It aims to advance technology for the benefit of humanity.

The Industry Outreach (governed by the Industry Outreach Board) is responsible for assuring a comprehensive and cost-effective outreach program of Society products and services to industry and governmental communities. It is also responsible for developing liaisons with communications and networking-related enterprises to promote ComSoc products and services and attract industry and government leaders into ComSoc’s volunteer community.

The board consists of seven voting members and up to four Members-at-Large, who may be appointed by the Director to represent external industrial and governmental interests. The seven voting members are representatives from several boards: Industry Communities Board, Technical Committees Board, Educational Services Board, PUB-C, CON-C, Standardization Programs Development Board, and MGA-C.

This is your first time serving as IEEE IOB Director. What were the first challenges you faced?

I started serving as IOB director in 2024, following a successful year chaired by Dr. Zhu. Industry engagement is always challenging regarding getting traction and developing and executing opportunities that bring results.

Generally, we are capitalizing on and growing opportunities such as the publication of the Industry column. It takes a lot of effort for the team to select topics that pertain to and generate value for the Industry community. Such a team can change from one issue to the next. The second challenge is the publication venue; in this case, the ComSoc Magazine was found suitable. Typically, we executed two publications in 2024, “The European Vision for 6G Smart Networks and Services” and “IOWN Global Forum.”

Second, we strived to support local chapters, Affinity Groups, and consortiums on 6G. Examples: Kolkata and Kerala. Typically, many of these require funding.

As activities on 6G increased, we have delivered value through a signed MOU. We have signed an MOU with Brooklyn 6G Summit, IMS, and one6G. Our level of engagement has gradually increased. For example, at the most recent Brooklyn 6G summit — the 11th edition — 6G From Vision to Action (https://b6gs.com/agenda2024/), ComSoc was given the opening address slot, which over 380 experts attended.

What is the best news of this year?

One of the other major steps taken is to combine the Industry Outreach with the Corporate Loyalty Program to report under IOB.

This year, we are adding an Industry Advisory Group to support the industry and Loyalty programs.

These two programs are now unique at IEEE, and we are working to strengthen and add value to them.

What other membership activities in this domain do you consider most significant and would like to highlight in particular?

ComSoc is currently the lead society among eight others managing the Future Network Technical Community (FNTC): https://futurenetworks.ieee.org. Key highlights include Education with relevant advanced technology courses, distinguished Lecture programs, webinars, and flagship forums.

A foundation asset is leveraging the FNTC International Network Generation Roadmap (INGR). The program is supported by 15 working groups. The INGR roadmap has become a great attraction for panel sessions at Flagship conferences and ComSoc/IOB.

What are the challenges that you face in achieving higher participation by industry?

We are witnessing great growth in membership, which stands at 36,983 and has the highest retention rate of 65.7%. The growth is a very positive challenge, but it must be accompanied by an action plan to ensure that opportunities are made available and encourage participation, although there is always a tight budget for having the needed resources to execute.

That is where having a strategy, soliciting volunteers, building strong networks, and collaborating are essential.

For example, having a high number of industry and student participants creates opportunities to organize panels and mentoring sessions. This was exemplified last year by holding joint chapter events, say, between Austin and Dubai, for a student leadership event leveraging the sister chapter approach instituted by ComSoc. This was repeated among other Paris chapters. Similarly, this created opportunities for mentor sessions with industry.

Similarly, the following are a few diverse examples of panels and events in 2024:

• IEEE Webinar on “Paving the path: Advancing 5G towards 6G”

• IEEE World Forum on Public Safety Technology (WF-OST), Washington, DC

• IEEE Inaugural Life Member Conference, Austin

• IEEE INGR Roadmap panel, Globecom, Capetown South Africa

• IEEE Future Networks World Forum, Dubai, UAE

• IEEE ComSoc 6G Brooklyn Summit, N.Y

• IOB Special Sessions at ICC and Globecom

• IEEE Future Networks Steering Committee monthly meetings

• TAB Membership and Engagement Committee presentation

Currently, we are exploring participation at the NOMS 2025 conference to usher Working Group on Next Generation Network Management supported by ComSoc, TE&I Panel on 6G at ICC, Industry panels / Student Leadership at Future Networks (Dubai), and Globecom (Taipei)

Finally, engaging with the Industry Engagement Committee (IEC) helps societies re-examine the employer type in the member database and resolve unassigned types to achieve completeness and accounting of members.

Also, there is a proposal to add a new ‘Distinguished IEEE Industry Member’ category to recognize exceptional achievements by industry members.

And what about Students? Do you regularly organize any specific activities for them?

Students are integral to industry programs. For example, a whole day was set aside for the student industry at ICC 2023 for career recruitment, covering soft skills, job interview skills, and mentoring sessions. I’m currently on the YP board representing IOB and have participated in the YP special session on Industry Fireside Chat at the ICC conference.

Future Network World Forums typically allocate YP leadership sessions, which has been very successful.

We recognize Students as future leaders and strive to ensure a vibrant leadership team, availability of resources, and support system

They have been actively participating in and developing YP career planning and mentoring sessions at conferences.

Earlier this year, the Central Texas section and Comsoc joint chapter celebrated the long-overdue success of WCNC, which was recently held in the area. Students and YP attended the celebration as future leaders.

To conclude, what are your plans for 2025?

The IOB program has gradually progressed over the years since starting around 2022 as an Ad Hoc committee on Industry Engagement. It is fueled by the advancement of 5G and now 6G technology, along with IOT and enabling technologies such as AI and Generative AI. The IOB program budget has increased, enabling traction, connecting, and leading in several initiatives. Currently, more MOUs have been signed, and other consortiums have been added. More planned activities in 2025 and beyond include flagship conferences and other 6G forums.

Thank you, Stefano, for helping us share our work and ideas. Also, thank you to the VP-MGA, Ana Garcia Armada, and the President, Robert Schober, for their strong support.