Strategic Initiatives

Internet of Things

• Cybersecurity: This initiative will help prepare NEMA Members and their customers to withstand increasingly numerous and sophisticated cyberattacks by developing cybersecurity best practices and standards, and by advocating for reasonable and flexible government policies and regulations.
• Data Privacy and Ownership: As manufacturers grapple with how to put to use the troves of data generated or collected by electrical and medical imaging technologies, this initiative will help NEMA Members better understand the legal requirements for accessing and utilizing data.
• Smart Manufacturing/Industrial IoT: With the IoT extending into manufacturing and other industrial processes, this initiative will promote smart manufacturing and industrial IoT by advocating for NEMA-supported standards and government policies.
• Webinar Series on IoT Trends: With so many IoT buzzwords out there, this initiative will cut through the hype to provide NEMA Members with the information they need to incorporate artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics, augmented reality, blockchain, and other IoT elements in their operations, products, and service offerings.

Smart Cities

• Grid Modernization Analysis: Innovative grid technologies have the potential to improve grid reliability and flexibility, but only if they are adopted by utilities and approved by regulators. This initiative will quantify the costs and benefits of modern grid technologies, and the results will be published to justify grid upgrades to utilities and their regulators.
• Energy Efficiency Modeling of Industrial and Building Systems: While NEMA and its Members understand that you can save more energy by focusing on the whole system, rather than just the individual components, computer models do not accurately account for these system benefits. To make customers and regulators more comfortable with the idea of a system-based approach to energy conservation, this initiative will focus on improving and testing energy models for specific applications.

Medical Imaging

• Lung, Breast, and Colorectal Cancer Screening: Catching cancer early can reduce the need for costly and invasive treatment later on. This initiative will seek to prove that screening for lung, breast, and colorectal cancer can achieve early detection and reduce mortality.

Workforce Development

• Educating the Electrical Workforce: To promote the electroindustry as a dynamic, high-skill, high-tech sector with many available career options, and to ensure that students have access to the appropriate curricula and training opportunities, NEMA is continuing and expanding its workforce development initiative.

​Internet of Things

An initiative to accelerate the adoption of connected devices and systems by increasing the operability and interoperability of electrical products, and by developing tailored information and actionable intelligence to help NEMA Members navigate the ever-expanding universe of protocols, data formats, and other Internet of Things architectures. This initiative includes a specific focus on connectivity standards, privacy issues, and cybersecurity challenges. Contact Steve Griffith to get involved.

Market Development

The Market Development Strategic Initiative includes three components:

• Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in States: To ensure that NEMA Members’ products are specified in state energy efficiency and renewable energy policies and regulations. Contact Joseph Eaves to get involved.

• Electrical Safety Information Analysis: To cultivate new and aggregate existing information measuring the costs and benefits of technologies that improve electrical safety in order to strengthen arguments in favor of code adoption and enforcement. Contact Michael Belitzky to get involved.

• Import Enforcement of Product Regulations: To define the scope of the threat presented by products that do not meet U.S. regulatory requirements or respect U.S. intellectual property rights and to minimize identified threats. Contact Craig Updyke to get involved.

Smart Cities

The Smart Cities Strategic Initiative includes three components:

• Connected Transportation: To identify and catalyze opportunities for NEMA Members to benefit from increased adoption of connected transportation infrastructure and systems (e.g., connected traffic infrastructure, autonomous vehicles, public transportation infrastructure, etc.). Contact Christine Coogle to get involved.

• Direct Current in Buildings: To accelerate demand for direct current in buildings by focusing on codes and standards and by conducting scenario analyses to guide NEMA's and NEMA Members' strategies going forward. Contact Brian Marchionini to get involved.
  

• Microgrids: To accelerate demand for microgrids by focusing on utility regulations and business models to guide NEMA's and NEMA Members' strategies going forward. Contact Brian Marchionini to get involved.

Value of Medical Imaging

To gain new insight into the motivation of medical imaging service providers (e.g., doctors, hospitals) and payers (e.g., insurance companies, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) as to what information serves as inputs into their decisions to provide or pay for medical imaging services. Contact Peter Weems to get involved.

Workforce Development

To systematically map the workforce development needs of NEMA Members and identify needs that can be mitigated by NEMA to ensure that NEMA Members have access to a sufficient number of well-trained employees and that those involved in installing and/or inspecting NEMA Members' products are properly trained. Contact Jonathan Stewart to get involved.