IEEE Program Aims to Connect the Billions Who Are Still Offline

It is a strange paradox of the modern age that while we are currently debating the nuances of 6G and the integration of large language models into our pockets, nearly 30 percent of the global population is still effectively invisible to the digital world. For those of us navigating the bustling streets of the Loop or commuting along the L in Chicago, the internet feels like oxygen—invisible, omnipresent, and essential. But as the IEEE Future Networks’ Connecting the Unconnected (CTU) program recently highlighted, over 2 billion people are still offline. This isn’t just a matter of convenience; it’s a systemic barrier to healthcare, education, and economic survival.

The timing of this global push for connectivity is particularly poignant for Chicago. With the city recently hosting the IEEE PES T&D 2026 conference in early May, the dialogue around “Powering Reliability and Engineering Resilience” has moved from the convention center floor into the very fabric of our urban planning. There is a profound intersection here: you cannot have universal internet access without a resilient power grid. Whether it is a solar-powered broadband network in Tanzania—one of the recent CTU winners—or the effort to harden the grid against Lake Michigan’s volatile weather patterns, the goal is the same: stability at the grassroots level.

The CTU program, led by figures like IEEE Life Fellow Sudhir Dixit and Professor Ashutosh Dutta, is doing more than just handing out prizes. By creating a structured pipeline—from the “conceptual path” for theoretical ideas to “proof-of-concept” for functional tech—they are essentially building a global incubator for digital equity. They are targeting three critical pillars: Technology Applications, Business Models, and Community Enablement. This holistic approach recognizes that a fancy antenna is useless if the local community can’t afford the subscription or doesn’t know how to use the interface to access medical services.

When we look at this through a local lens, Chicago mirrors these global challenges in a micro-scale. We see “digital deserts” in certain South Side and West Side neighborhoods where broadband penetration lags far behind the gold coast. The struggle isn’t always a lack of cables in the ground, but a lack of affordable access and the technical literacy to leverage those tools. The CTU’s focus on “Community Enablement” is exactly the kind of framework that local policymakers and urban planners should be eyeing. By leveraging the latest internet infrastructure trends, the city can move beyond simple subsidies and toward sustainable, community-owned connectivity models.

One of the most compelling aspects of the CTU initiative is the “Empowerment Through Mentorship” program, supported by the Lemelson Foundation. This 1,000-day guidance period acknowledges a harsh truth: brilliant engineers are not always brilliant entrepreneurs. The gap between a working prototype and a scalable business is a chasm filled with marketing hurdles and financing nightmares. In Chicago, we have a world-class ecosystem—from the research powerhouses at the University of Chicago to the cutting-edge energy labs at Argonne National Laboratory—that could serve as a blueprint for this kind of sustained mentorship. Imagine pairing a budding connectivity innovator from a disadvantaged ward with a seasoned tech executive from the West Loop; that is where real systemic change happens.

the move toward standardization, such as the IEEE P1962 standard for using solar panels as optical communication receivers, signals a shift toward “invisible” infrastructure. We are moving away from the era of massive, intrusive cell towers toward integrated, energy-efficient systems. For a city like Chicago, which is constantly balancing historic preservation with modernization, these low-impact, high-efficiency standards are critical. We need connectivity that blends into the architecture of our neighborhoods rather than disrupting them.

The story of Ritu Srivastava and her “Community Radio Bolo” project in India serves as a masterclass in leveraging existing assets. By using community radio towers as hubs for a wireless mesh network, she turned a legacy technology into a gateway for the modern web. This “hybrid” thinking is what we need here. Instead of waiting for a single massive provider to “save” underserved areas, we should be looking at how existing municipal assets—libraries, schools, and public transit hubs—can be converted into high-speed access points using the very standards the IEEE is currently refining.

Given my background in geo-journalism and urban analysis, it’s clear that the “macro” trends of the IEEE CTU program have “micro” applications right here in our backyard. If you are a property developer, a local government official, or a community leader in Chicago feeling the impact of the digital divide or the instability of local infrastructure, you cannot rely on generic IT support. You need specialized expertise to navigate the intersection of energy, policy, and telecommunications.

Here are the three types of local professionals you should be seeking out to implement these high-level connectivity trends locally:

• Municipal Broadband & Digital Equity Consultants: You aren’t looking for a salesperson from a major ISP. You need consultants who specialize in FCC grant writing, municipal franchise agreements, and “Last Mile” connectivity strategies. Look for professionals who have a track record of working with city zoning boards and who understand the specific socioeconomic barriers of the Chicago metropolitan area.
• Smart Grid Integration Engineers: As connectivity becomes tied to energy (like the solar-optical receivers mentioned by IEEE), the line between the electrician and the network engineer is blurring. Seek out engineers certified in IEEE standards who specialize in Distributed Energy Resources (DERs). They are the ones who can ensure your connectivity infrastructure doesn’t crash during a polar vortex.
• Community Technology Strategists: Following the “Community Enablement” model, these are professionals who bridge the gap between technical deployment and human adoption. Look for strategists with experience in “Digital Literacy” programming and those who have successfully implemented public-private partnerships to provide affordable broadband to underserved urban populations.

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