IFAC Industry Committee

The purpose of this taskforce is to structure and coordinate the next steps with this edited volume, which was published in December 2023 as part of the Wiley/IEEE press series on Control Systems Theory and Applications. The aim of the book is to contribute to closing the gap between theory and practice in this important (but often hidden and therefore undervalued) area of technology.

This task force is exploring how control principles offers insights for decision makers in organizations. Among other objectives, we hope to develop materials that could be used to broaden the horizons of control engineers and scientists as well as for professional training.

This task force will develop a curated repository of free online resources for control practitioners who want to refresh on fundamentals, prepare for licensure examinations, or learn new skills.

Benchmarks are a set of standards or references against which things may be compared. Many benchmarks have been developed by the controls community for various industrial control problems. This allows practical engineering problems to be resolved collectively and thus enables advanced control in industrial practices.

This task force is responsible for managing the Industry Committee communications and performance metrics

The aim of this task force is to encourage entrepreneurial activities in the control community, to foster exchange between experienced and budding entrepreneurs, and to bring together like-minded people.

Images used in task force pages.

IndCom achievements from its inception

Publications arising out of the work of IndCom

Surveys undertaken by the Industry Committee

Collect data on industry participation in IFAC and any other related data (e.g., from other organizations such as IEEE CSS). Analyze data, summarize findings, and develop hypotheses. Analysis by industry sector, geography, and other factors would be useful. [Chair: Serge Boverie]

There seems to be considerable variation in industry engagement in difference countries/regions and different sectors. This workstream will collect information on industry-engagement models (e.g., government co-funding programs, industry consortia) and attempt to identify best practices that other regions/sectors can learn from. [Chair: Kazuya Asano]

Gather industry viewpoints on what issues they see with leveraging IFAC activities and academic research. These will probably also be specific to sectors, and perhaps to geographies as well. [Chair: Alex van Delft]

Scope: Recommend changes to conferences, journals, and committees that are likely to increase industry participation and make IFAC more relevant to industry. Other mechanisms could also be looked at (e.g., start a webinar series?). The recommendations should be informed by outputs from the above workstreams. Workstream Chair: Roger Goodall

IFAC Constitution amendment for the Industry Committee (Tariq Samad, chair) – Formalize the notion of a permanent IFAC Industry Committee. Define a suitable structure and scope. Governance and leadership should also be defined. Propose changes to the constitution to this end. [Chair: Tariq Samad]

The preparation of a best practices for TCs and technical events to attract industry participation

An ongoing activity focused externally targeting industry-sector organizations related to control and to non-IFAC events and publications.

Taskforce on Industry-Academic Collaboration

A task force aimed at the establishment of a virtual seminar program

The task force is dedicated to preparing an edited volume that addresses the question of the impact of control in industrial innovation.

First edition of the Impact of Control Technology report, published by IEEE Control Systems Society. Includes 23 two-page flyers on "Success Stories" as well as discussions on the application of advanced control to application areas: aerospace, process industries, automotive, robotics, biological systems, and renewable energy and smart grids. Research challenges are also featured.

Second edition of the IoCT report. Consists of 30 industrial success stories and >30 research challenges.

Three papers from the CPC IV conference (1991), giving industry views from Japan, Europe, and North America. Courtesy of Heikki Koivo.

Identification and Control: The Gap Between Theory and Practice

Front matter from an edited volume published by Springer (2007). Editors are Ricardo S. Sánchez Peña, Joseba Quevedo Casín, and Vicenç Puig Cayuela. Includes preface, table of contents, and list of contributors. With thanks to Ricardo Sánchez Peña.

Industrial and Academic Experience in Aerospace Fault Detection and Diagnosis

This document is a report from an EU/IEEE-CSS workshop organized under the auspices of the EU FP7 project "Advanced Fault Diagnosis for Sustainable Flight Guidance and Control" (ADDSAFE). The reader's attention is drawn to Section 2.3 in particular, where industrial and academic perspectives are contrasted. This report provided courtesy of and with thanks to Andres Marcos.

Benchmark Problems for Control System Design

Report prepared by the IFAC Theory Committee in May 1990. Edited by Ted Davison, the committee chair. Thirteen problems are described across numerous application domains.

Alex van Delft

Alex van Delft