What is our ‘e-legacy’ going to be?
30 October 2007
What are we doing it all for? A classic question pondered in quieter moments by philosophers, hippies….just about anyone capable of cognitive thought in fact. But these quieter moments so often get swept aside by the considerable demands of daily life.
But in answering the question above we have a distinct advantage in our industry – we are at the cutting edge. It is the electronics industry that has put society where it is today. Our justification is technological advancement and where we are going, both as a species and as an industry, is really in our own hands.
But if we were to look more closely at the way we operate as both individuals and as companies within the electronics, can we really hold our heads high and say that we conduct our business in a way that sits comfortably with our ethics? In some ways we are lucky in that the electronics manufacturing industry is far from the worst from an environmental point of view, although it is sometimes convenient to forget that the solder alloys, components and bare boards we assemble all had to be manufactured from raw materials that are not without their environmental consequences. In fact this is just one of a limitless number of tangents that this article is already in danger of flying off on that are subjects for another day. So I will concentrate one single project, tied into my words above, that caught my imagination. The e-legacy awards.
Now usually awards ceremonies in this industry celebrate products. Either the products we make or, more usually, the machines and materials we use to make them with – placement machines, solder pastes, flying probe testers and so on. And this is good. It is important to celebrate what is best (as long as it has been voted for or judged fairly!) But there is an argument, and one that I buy into, that individuals and companies have a wider responsibility. For example, Craig Barrett, Chairman of Intel, recently said that it was ‘the duty of every large company to give back to society in some way’. Intel has recently given a huge boost to the One Laptop Per Child (covered in our news pages over recent months) project by announcing its involvement. Barrett himself is Chairman of the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development who are playing an integral part in the Connect Africa conference covered in this weeks news.
Not many of us work in companies of such global significance as Intel of course, and fewer still have positions of such influence as Barrett, but that should not stop us from buying into principle. That was the motivation behind launching the e-legacy awards.
Caroline Hayes is the editor of UK-based Electronic Product Design magazine, the organisers of the awards. She told me: “The e-legacy Awards recognise the achievements and contributions of electronics companies; their initiatives and their products which make a difference to the world in which we live, to the next generation of engineers, and benefit individuals and communities. The e-Legacy Awards look forward to the legacy that good electronic design and design practices put in place for future generations.”
So rather than have awards that reward machines and materials, the six categories in e-Legacy will celebrate those who have made a positive impact on: Environment; Education; Medical; Safety; Sustainability; and Training. In keeping with the ethical nature of the Awards, the finalists were selected by a team of independent judges and the winners then voted for by readers of the magazine.
I also think there is a global significance to these awards, not just because there are finalists of global significance (Fairchild, National Semiconductor, International Rectifier etc), but because, quite obviously, the categories deal with issues of relevance to us all. You could also argue that the very fact that the awards now exist show that these issues have rather belatedly made it onto the agenda, and that that one company, by putting the awards on in the first place, is creating its own e-Legacy.
Unfortunately I can’t tell you who has won. The Awards take place on Thursday of this week and Caroline will not give away any secrets, but I will post the winners on EMTWorldWide as soon as I find out.
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