Foreword

Through a total of seven working sessions, the delegates have built the picture of the future amateur radio we wanted to see and confirmed the key steps that will get us there. As a result of this collaborative work, you will find:

• The list of key values we see as our guiding principles and must not be compromised,
• The reasons for Amateur Radio to exist and to endure for decades: our Core Purpose,
• What we want to see in 10 years when looking at Amateur Radio: our Overarching Goal,
• What must be done for this Overarching Goal to be a reality: our Strategic Objectives.

The last section of this document presents the action plan we have prepared to go forward.

You can download the summary of the workshop outcomes here : PDF

Key values

The following key “values” describe what we see as central to amateur radio into the future:

FUN, ENJOYMENT, PASSION, HOBBY
Experiencing the magic of radio/electronics/wireless communications, as a lifetime adventure (for all ages), just for personal interest, without commercial purpose. Amateur radio is not just fun: We are passionate about the use of electromagnetic communications and technology to make achievements and improve ourselves. We enjoy personal interaction with likeminded and want to serve our society.

GLOBAL HAM COMMUNITY
The global ham community is an inclusive environment without frontiers. Ham spirit is used within the community and is a multicultural, apolitical, open minded and tolerant concept where friendship is built around the world. Common interests are shared and developed within this community.

PRACTICAL EXPERIMENTATION (TECHNOLOGY & COMMUNICATION)
The freedom to experiment. Curiosity-driven experimentation with technology and communication techniques, re-using existing techniques and improving them, understanding and exploring the physics of electromagnetic propagation.

INNOVATION
A focus on creativity and innovation around leading-edge technology and an intense curiosity about what might be possible. Developing new techniques.

LEARNING AND EDUCATION (TECH & COMMS)
A foundation for amateur radio is the continuous self-training and education within technologies and communications. Curiosity and a wish to break existing technical boundaries are strong drivers, as well as sharing knowledge within the community to educate and help others.

VALUE TO SOCIETY
Promoting interest in science and technology subjects across society. Amateur radio also provides trained radio operators and radio engineers to businesses. Provide logistical support and radiocommunications expertise in emergency situations and public events.

Our Core Purpose and Overarching goal

We then discussed “why” Amateur Radio exists, and agreed a sentence that summarised this:

Provide an accessible way that people can enjoy and personally grow from experimentation with, and utilisation of, the radio spectrum, bringing together like-minded people in a community of common interest and offering social and economic benefit to others in our areas of expertise.

Given this context, we considered what we wanted to see in ten years’ time, allowing for both our vision for the future and the need to fix some of the weaknesses and address some of the threats in the SWOT analysis. This is what we want to see:

Amateur Radio is booming across Region 1. It has evolved to become one of the leading communities of expertise for science and technology enthusiasts. It is rightly respected and admired, both for the self-development opportunities that it offers and for the value it delivers to society as a whole.

Strategic Objectives

We then considered what would make that 10-year ambition happen. We saw eight key areas (“strategic objectives”) needing to be in place:

1 — Amateur radio is continually redefined and refocused to be relevant and appealing to a wide range of science and technology interest groups

2 — Amateur radio is seen as a welcoming and accessible activity for people of all ages, backgrounds, genders, and ethnicities, providing fun, social community and personal development

3 — Amateur radio is seen to be providing social, economic, educational, and other benefits to society

4 — Experimentation, innovation, and creativity are central to amateur radio, which is publicly recognised as the leading non-commercial community on wireless communication

5 — Amateur radio provides a supportive environment for self-development and excellence within communications and technology, supporting the development of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) skills

6 — Governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), professional bodies and academia acknowledge the relevance and technical capability of the amateur service and its benefit to society

7 — Amateur radio has an extensive media presence from its accessibility to new entrants to its high value technical and scientific contribution

8 — IARU has an active program and supporting tools to strengthen member societies, their mutual cooperation and their development and growth.

Way forward

At the end of the workshop, creation of 8 different teams was initiated, each with the task to further develop and implement one strategic objective. The 8 teams together form the program called “Shaping the Future”. 

A project organisation has been created with a Program Board, a secretariat and the 8 teams (that will become individual, but related, projects). IARU-R1 has set aside a substantial amount of money to finance e.g. servers, travel, licenses, consultants, etc. 

The teams define the work and request funding for different initiatives. Once this has been approved by the Program Board, the projects can be kicked off.