IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - October 2015 - 25

Chapter chair is an ex-officio member of the Section executive committee, which meets once a month to
discuss matters of mutual concern
and pass on the latest news from
IEEE headquarters.
Hong Kong has a unique governing structure. Information technology
and engineering professionals elect
representatives to the legislative council. This means that professionals not
only have a voice in government, but
it also allows the government to consult the professionals. IEEE, along
with the other professional societies,
is active in the process. The Hong
Kong Chapter has a number of members who participate in the election
process. One outcome of this is that
visiting luminaries are welcome to
discuss matters of current importance
with legislators.
On 3-4 June 2015, Bob Frankston,
Society rock star DL was in Hong Kong.
He had lunch with the representative of
the Information Technology Functional
Constituency in Hong Kong's Legislative Council, Hon. Charles Mok, as well
as a number of Mok's advisors and support staff. The discussion lasted a couple
of hours and covered various aspects of

the future of the smart city, the Internet
of Things (IoT), and the prospects for
start-ups in Hong Kong. Mok is heading
up the push by technology groups to
have an Innovation and Technology
Bureau established within the Hong
Kong government. The IEEE Hong
Kong Section and its Society Chapters,
including the CE Society Chapter, are
involved with this effort.
After a tour of the legislative council complex, Frankston gave a talk,
"The Internet and Other Consequences of a Software-Defined World," to
an appreciative and responsive audience. The talk was a precursor for a
new theme in Frankston's repertoire,
and as it was a work in progress, the
discussion at the end was lively and
informed. According to Frankston,
"half a century ago I discovered the
power of software and have been
online riding the crest of this change
ever since. I approach the Internet as
part of the larger transition to a software-defined world." In his talk, he
looked at the history of the Internet in
the context of the disruptive changes
wrought by the new digital technologies. He opines that in the near future
we'll need Internet-native policies that

Bob Frankston on his guided tour of the
Legislative Council Building, Hong Kong,
June 2015.

provide, what he calls, "ambient and
borderless connectivity."
In 2015, the Chapter was a technical sponsor of ICCE-China 2015,
which was held in neighboring Shenzhen, as well as a technical sponsor of
the HKIE: Electronics Symposium
2015-Sustainable IoT Development
for Smart Cities, held on 17 April
2015. A major event planned for the
end of 2015 is a local conference in
December on connected health, jointly
organized with the Hong Kong Productivity Council.

-Robin Bradbeer

The 2015-2016 CE Society
Distinguished Lecturer Program

any of you may be aware of
our Distinguished Lecturer
(DL) Program; however, it
was recently revamped for
2015-2016 by DL Chair Wahab
Almuhtadi, working with a subcommittee of the IEEE Consumer Electronics
(CE) Society Board of Governors. This
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MCE.2015.2462534
Date of publication: 29 October 2015

new program offers a significantly
enhanced selection of speakers, ranging
from CE rock stars who have keynoted
at significant international events to local
experts who have the ability to present
more technically oriented distinguished
lectures and training sessions for CE
Society Chapters within your region.
The CE Society DL Program provides a service to support the CE Society Chapters with high-quality DLs

specialized in various aspects of CE to
deliver technical seminars and workshops. While presentations to groups
outside of the Society and the IEEE are
encouraged, the DL Program is not
intended to be used for national or international symposiums, conferences,
regional conventions, local colloquiums,
trade shows, or commercial seminars.
The DL Program can be arranged in
response to a request from one or more

october 2015

IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - October 2015