What Are IEEE Intersociety Activities?

IEEE Intersociety Activities are formal collaborative engagements between IEEE and other professional engineering and scientific societies, coordinated to advance shared technical, educational, and policy objectives. These activities range from co-sponsored international conferences and joint publications to memoranda of understanding with national engineering bodies and participation in multi-organizational standards efforts. IEEE's governance documents define intersociety activities broadly to include both technical and non-technical dimensions, recognizing that the boundaries of electrical and electronic engineering intersect with fields as varied as mechanical engineering, chemistry, medicine, and public policy.

The framework exists because no single professional society can fully serve the interdisciplinary nature of modern engineering practice. By establishing formal linkages with peer organizations, IEEE extends its reach into areas where its member technical societies interact with adjacent disciplines. Related to intersociety activities is the category of IEEE Professional Activities, which encompasses member engagement, career development, and the representation of engineers' interests in legislative and regulatory processes.

National Society Agreements

One structured form of IEEE intersociety activity is the National Society Agreement, a memorandum of understanding between IEEE and an engineering society based in another country. IEEE currently holds more than 70 such agreements spanning over 40 countries and regions. These agreements typically provide for reciprocal membership benefits, joint conference sponsorship, coordinated technical standards activities, and professional development exchanges. The IEEE communities and societies framework describes these relationships as mechanisms for elevating technical skills and fostering professional growth among engineers in participating organizations, particularly in regions where IEEE has a smaller direct membership base.

Technical Collaboration and Joint Standards Work

Many IEEE intersociety activities take the form of joint technical committees or co-sponsored standards projects with bodies such as ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), the Society of Automotive Engineers, or the Association for Computing Machinery. In the standards domain, IEEE frequently co-develops specifications with international bodies including ISO, IEC, and ITU, with formal intersociety agreements governing intellectual property rights, editorial procedures, and ballot eligibility. The IEEE-USA arm of IEEE coordinates much of the government relations and public policy work that requires acting in concert with other engineering societies, including through the American Association of Engineering Societies, which links more than 25 professional bodies in joint advocacy efforts.

Conference Co-Sponsorship and Professional Events

Co-sponsored conferences represent one of the most visible outputs of IEEE intersociety activities. IEEE's policies specify procedures for submitting proposals for intersociety events to the IEEE Board of Directors, which may delegate review authority to its Major Boards. Such arrangements have produced long-running venues that serve researchers whose work spans the constituencies of two or more professional societies. The IEEE Technical Activities Board oversees the division of technical society responsibilities and the rules governing cooperation between societies and councils within IEEE itself, complementing the external intersociety relationships described here.

Applications

IEEE Intersociety Activities support professional and technical work across a range of areas, including:

• Joint technical standards development with ISO, IEC, and national engineering societies
• Co-sponsored international conferences and symposia bridging multiple engineering disciplines
• National Society Agreements supporting professional development in partner countries
• Government and regulatory advocacy through multi-society coalitions
• Cross-society educational programs and student chapter partnerships