ISTAS is the flag ship conference of the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology [SSIT]

The IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT)’s Field of Interest according to its constitution is:

The impact of technology (as embodied by the fields of interest of IEEE) on society, including both positive and negative effects, the impact of society on the engineering profession, the history of the societal aspects of electro technology, and professional social and economic responsibility in the practice of engineering and its related technology.

The society was founded in 1972 as the Committee on Social Implications of Technology. It was given its current name in 1982.

SSIT operates as a Society under the IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB)

2022 is the 50th Foundation Day of IEEE’s Commitment on Social Implications of Technology.

IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS), the flagship event of IEEE Society for Social Implications of Technology (SSIT), is a multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary forum for engineers, policy makers, entrepreneurs, philosophers, researchers, social scientists, technologists, and polymaths to collaborate, exchange experiences, and discuss the social implications of technology.

Please find below an overview of past ISTAS events:

Year	Date	Location	Theme	Chair(s)
1989	Oct. 20 - 21	Los Angeles, USA	A Delicate Balance: Technics, Culture and Consequences	Chantal Toporow
1991	June 21-22	Toronto, Canada	Preparing for a Sustainable Society	Walter Zessner
1993	Oct. 22-23	Washington, DC, USA	Technology: Whose costs? Whose benefits?	Bill Kelly
1996	June 21-22	Princeton, New Jersey, USA	Technical Expertise and Public Decisions	Clint Andrews
1997	June 20-21	Glasgow, Scotland	Technology and Society at a Time of Sweeping Change	Simon Burne
1998	June 12-13	South Bend, Indiana	Wiring the World: The Impact of Information Technology on Society	Karl Perusich
1999	July 29-31	South Bend, Indiana	Wiring the World: The Impact of Information Technology on Society	David Morton
2000	Sept. 6-8	Rome, Italy	University as a Bridge from Technology to Society	Valerio Cimagalli, Marco Balsi
2001	July 6-7	Stamford, Connecticut, USA	Ethical and Social Issues Criteria in Academic Accreditation	Jerry Engel, Brian O’Connell
2002	June 6-8	Raleigh, North Carolina, USA	Social Implications of Information and Communication Technology	Joseph Herkert
2003	Sept. 26-28	Amsterdam, The Netherlands	Technology, Crime Prevention, and Security	Hin Oey
2004	June 17-19	Worcester, Massachusetts, USA	Globalizing Technological Education	Lance Schachterle, Rick Vaz
2005	June 8-10	Los Angeles, California, USA	Weapons and Wires: Social Implications of ICT and Global Security	Philip Chmielewski
2006	June 8-10	New York, USA	Disaster Preparedness and Recovery	Roberta Brody
2007	June 1-2	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Risk, Uncertainty, Vulnerability, Technology and Society	Dr. David M. Hassenzahl
2008	Jun 26- 28	New Brunswick, Canada	Citizens, Groups, Communities and Information and Communication Technologies	Dr. Susan O’Donnell, Dr. Clinton Andrews
2009	May 18-20	Tempe, Arizona,USA	Social Implications of Sustainable Development	Joseph Herkert
2010	June 7-9	Wollongong, Australia	Social Implications of Emerging Technologies	Mark Gasson
2011	May 23-25	Chicago, USA	Interactions of Technology Society	Michael Loui, Mary-Sheila Tracy
2012	Oct. 27-29	Singapore	Technology and Society in Asia	Dr Michael Arnold
2013	June 27-29	Toronto, Canada	Smart World - living in a smart World - people as sensors	Steve Mann
2014	May 23-24	Chicago, USA	Ethics – a challenge to the scientific and engineering community	Keith Miller, Joe Herkert
2015	Nov. 11-12	Dublin, Ireland	Culture, Ethics and the Knowledge Society	Paul Cunningham (Chair), Miriam Cunningham (Technical Program Chair)
2016	Oct. 21-22	Kerala, India	Ethics and Pervasive Computing Technologies	Charles Despins, Jaafar Elmirgani
2017	Aug. 9-11	Sydney, Australia	From Good Ideas to Practical Solutions	Paul Cunningham (Chair), Miriam Cunningham (Technical Program Chair)
2018	Nov. 13-14	Washington DC, USA	Technology, Ethics and Policy	Paul Cunningham (Chair), Miriam Cunningham (Technical Program Chair)
2019	Nov. 15-16	Boston, Massachusetts, USA	Technology, Sustainable Development and Ethics	Paul Cunningham (Chair), Miriam Cunningham (Technical Program Chair)
2020	Nov. 12-15	Virtual (Phoenix), Arizona, USA	Public Interest Technology	Katina Michael (Chair), Roba Abbas (Technical Program Chair)
2021	Oct. 28-31	Virtual (Waterloo), Canada	Technology Stewardship and Responsible Innovation	Heather A. Love / Rozita Dara (Chairs), Brandiff Caron, Ketra Schimitt (Technical Program Chairs)