Ah, Charleston! Famous for its beautiful historic architecture, horse-drawn carriages, shrimp and grits... and now a memorable location for the International Society of Automation (ISA) Automation Summit & Expo. We sure had a great time at the 2024 event, which took place from 30 September to 4 October. Read on for highlights of the experience, and more details about how to join us in 2025! 

Cybersecurity, Digital Transformation and Career Skills

When ISA put the program together for the Automation Summit & Expo in partnership with our program committees for each track, we were focused on finding the most innovative minds in automation with the most interesting stories to tell. In 2024, we organized around three main themes: operational technology (OT) cybersecurity, digital transformation and career skills. 

Keynote speakers for the event included Houston Green, a space exploration engineer with NASA Johnson Space Center, and James Clark, vice president of IT with South Jersey Industries Information Security. 

The keynote sessions were just two of the 64 sessions on offer at the Automation Summit & Expo.

Our cybersecurity track addressed supply chain security, protecting against ransomware attacks and ensuring the safety and integrity of automated systems.

In digital transformation, we talked about generative AI, smart manufacturing, cloud technology and digital twins.

And when it comes to career skills, we covered career transitions, mentorship and networking, building and leading high-performing teams and trends in the automation industry. 

Karine Leblanc presents "The Power of EQ: Bridging the Gap Between Technical Brilliance and Human Connections" during the career skills track

The event also included a number of opportunities for volunteers to get together on other important topics, including multiple standards committee meetings, DLCs (district leadership conferences) and a volunteer workshop, which is always a highlight! This custom-designed workshop helps craft plans for mission-focused, vibrant and successful sections and divisions. 

Volunteer workshop participants discuss how automation is not just about AI and robots — automation depends on people! 

Honors and Awards Gala

ISA president Prabhu Soundarrajan and past president Marty Bince clearly felt "the need, the need for speed" aboard the USS Yorktown, the exciting venue for the 2024 ISA Honors and Awards Gala.

This year's awardees and Fellows were recognized on the flight deck of a retired WWII US Navy aircraft carrier. It made for a memorable and emotional evening, where award winners spoke about the importance of automation and what has inspired their success.

Meeting Mimo!

ISA's new mascot Mimo^SM was the talk of the town at ASE! Mimo is, of course, the face and name of our large language model, available at www.isa.org/mimo. But Mimo is also a real-live, huggable friend to the automation community, and it seems like everyone enjoyed getting to know them!

Here is Mimo with many former ISA presidents, as well as CEO and executive director Claire Fallon and current ISA president Prabhu Soundarrajan. 

Mimo also enjoyed meeting the 266 ISA members and automation professionals who attended the Automation Summit & Expo. That's a lot of hugs and high fives, Mimo!

Attendees Enjoyed ASE 2024

Positive feedback is always nice to hear, and ASE attendees had lots of kind words: 

• "What I like about ISA events is the networking that you can do at them. You can have good technical content and presentations, but more than that, you can connect to people. In order to have better performance in your job, you need to have contacts, and ISA can help a lot with that."
• "As someone who was not as familiar with ISA, this conference has given me a lot of information about the society and how it applies to my field. I enjoyed meeting professionals I wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to interact with."
• "ASE is the event I look forward to every year to see my network of automation professionals in person and stay on top of the latest trends for both DT and cybersecurity."
• "ISA events are a wonderful opportunity to enrich your mind with the latest technologies and diverse topics that you won't really have a chance to get involved in or explore if you just stay at your office. ... Equally important are these one-to-one discussions that you have with subject-matter experts at these events that really take you to the next level of thinking and envisioning who you want to be in the future."

Thank You to Sponsors of ASE 2024

Twenty-one organizations teamed up with ISA to sponsor this event, and we are very grateful for their partnership!

Join ISA for the 2025 Automation Summit & Expo

We are so excited to share that the 2025 ISA Automation Summit & Expo will be held at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

• Volunteer Workshop: 5 October
• Conference and Expo: 6-7 October
• Training: 8-9 October

Registration and more details are coming soon to ase.isa.org!