At different times in life, people may wish to improve their well-being or require diverse levels of assistance. This could mean enhancing home comforts with smart heating and cooling systems or using intelligent...
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we all had to stay at home more than usual, our households becoming the ultimate refuge against the virus. Everybody felt safer in confinement, but especially vulnerable groups: the...
From robots to wearables, various technology breakthroughs are helping the elderly population better cope with the many inconveniences associated with old age. IEC International Standards help these new devices to...
Mobile devices have rapidly changed society and the way in which we interact and exchange information. For example, the mobile phone has rapidly evolved from being purely a telephone to the complex smartphone systems of...
It is a generally accepted notion that we are living in times of rapid change. If, to paraphrase Heraclitus, change is the only constant, then organizations must anticipate areas of possible change and prepare themselves...
Every year IEC honours the commitment and work of a number of individuals in its community who, through their leadership and technical expertise, have contributed to making products and electrical systems safer, more...
Increasingly, industry projects need to apply a combination of standards, in order for products and systems to run smoothly. The technology must be interoperable at different levels and between diverse domains, while...
Every year, the IEC pays tribute to people from its organization, for their distinguished work and commitment to improving the safety, compatibility and energy efficiency of electrical products and systems, with its...
Alan Hodgson participated in several sessions during the Printing for Fabrication conference organized by the Society for Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T) in Dresden, Germany, in September.
Our world is getting smarter by the minute. Voice recognition allows us to tell devices to do things, such as find a specific TV channel or remind us of all our appointments for the day. Smart agriculture uses sensors...
Around the world, urban populations are booming. An estimated 54.5 percent of global populations lived in urban settlements in 2016 and this number is expected to increase to 60 by 2030, according to research by the...
Whether we realize it or not, the internet of things (IoT) is part of many aspects of daily life. Thanks to billions of connected, “sensorized” devices and systems, it can facilitate everyday activities and tasks and...
Take the 170 countries in the IEC family, the 20 000 technical experts who work in standards development, the many certification bodies (CBs) and test laboratories (TLs) in the IEC Conformity Assessment (CA) Systems, and...
Using new technology and gadgets to help the elderly and people with disabilities stay independent in and outside the home is the approach favoured by most health specialists, not to mention policymakers and governments...
The sparc-FMA International Lighting and Facilities event, organized by the Facility Management Association (FMA) took place from 30 May to 1 June, in Sydney. During the event, more than 60 exhibitors, including lighting...
Printed electronics as a manufacturing method has become established in a number of areas across the electrotechnical world. The connections that are made are emerging as particularly significant in the new generation of...
It is with great sadness and regret that the IEC learnt of the passing of Alastair Ramsay, a member of the IEC Systems Committee Active Assisted Living (SyC AAL), on 28 January 2017, after a short battle with cancer.
While recent developments in home automation are bound to make anyone’s life easier, there are certain categories of the population for which it may be a life-changing experience: elderly and/or disabled people have very...
To deal with Active Assisted Living (AAL) issues, the IEC has established a Systems Committee, IEC SyC AAL. This SyC has the role of promoting safety, security, privacy and cross-vendor interoperability in the use of AAL...
