n less than five short years, attention on energy harvesting has made a dramatic shift.  In years past, we have seen the reaction to proposed energy harvesting applications range from anecdotal curiosity to being dismissed as producing negligible amounts of power.  Fast-forward to today and we have an entire production ecosystem that has quickly gained steam as folks start to realize just how limiting batteries are in (mostly) low power applications (in terms of battery life and the resultant need for frequent replacement) and how energy harvesting is the key to enabling reliable and maintenance-free powering of all those amazing Internet of Things (IoT)  devices for Industrial IoT, wearables, 5G, wireless sensor networks, robotics, and medical technologies, just to name a small handful.  The conversation has shifted from "What is it?" and "It will never deliver useful power levels." to "How can I take advantage of this technology?" and "Can you help me develop an energy harvesting strategy/roadmap before my competitors do?" and "We see the value, but need help getting our learning curve up-to-speed to execute quickly and verify it will work for our applications."

The Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) has always been at the forefront of power technologies and the promotion of the driving force behind all electronics for many decades now and energy harvesting is no exception.  In less than 18 months, the PSMA Energy Harvesting Committee has increased membership from seven to over 30 members with a wide mix of academia and representatives from a variety of industry players on both the supplier and user sides of the fence.  A key initiative was the management and execution of a full Industry Session at the 2017 Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC), the premier, global event for power electronics.  The session was expected to be a stepping-stone to segue future interest in energy harvesting technologies at APEC and turned into a standing-room-only technical demonstration and lecture session. The demonstration session in particular was an important message to the audience that energy harvesting has moved from the lab to real life applications and offers significant competitive advantages.

Under the steadfast and energetic leadership of the PSMA Energy Harvesting Committee, the group is pushing forward with the next, ambitious step in this exciting field.  The Committee has recently announced the creation and planning of EnerHarv 2018, a three-day, international workshop 'by energy harvesting people for energy harvesting people.'  It is completely dedicated to bringing the best and brightest minds in this very siloed industry together to raise awareness, develop synergies between the various constituents of the energy harvesting ecosystem, and enable applications.  EnerHarv will be hosted by Tyndall National Institute in Cork, Ireland in late-May, 2018.  Tyndall is one of Europe's leading industry-led IoT research centers and is an epicenter for energy harvesting research.

EnerHarv is a unique workshop in the way it will be structured to maximize collaboration and push the industry forward.  The entire program will be experienced as a collective of all workshop delegates.  From the technical lectures to the functional technology demonstrations to the open panel discussions, each day will be packed with technical knowledge mixed with practical application information all to culminate in a group discussion on a theme following a common thread throughout each day of the workshop.  The workshop is targeted at anyone involved or considering getting involved in developing or using energy harvesting technology, particularly (but not exclusively) for ultra-low power IoT applications.  Delegates will walk away inspired, enabled, connected and eager to exercise their newfound education and collaborations immediately upon returning to their colleagues/labs/partners/etc.

In addition to PSMA's financial backing and member support, the EnerHarv Workshop Committee (EWC) has quickly retained many of the industry's top organizations as Technical Sponsors.  This list includes the IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS), the European Power Electronics Research Network (ECPE), Ireland's national research centre for Future Networks & Communications (CONNECT), and the China Power Supply Society (CPSS).  This is in addition to many representatives on the EWC from prestigious academic and industry mainstays in the world of energy harvesting and power electronics.

The EWC is currently filling presentation and poster slots for this invite-only event.  If you are interested in contributing content, then please visit the EnerHarv 2018 website at www.EnerHarv.com for workshop tracks and EWC contact information.  Additionally, you will find an opportunity to input your own contact information and be one of the first to learn when registration becomes available.

Please join us in the beautiful and historical city of Cork, Ireland's gourmet capital, in May and be part of the inaugural EnerHarv Workshop.  Open your mind to harvesting every type of ambient energy physics affords us.  Learn how to extend battery life and perhaps mitigate batteries altogether in your application.  Learn about the materials, devices and systems and supporting simulation development and deployment tools that are making energy harvesting a reality today.  Obtain valuable training on the nuances of ultra-low power designs/loads.  Build relationships and network with an entire ecosystem at your immediate disposal, while focused on the organic growth of this emerging area in an impartial and altruistic environment without all the baggage that comes with a commercial, for-profit event.  You will be able to return to your teams and tell them the predictions for 10s of billions of devices in the next three to five years are actually a reality but can only become so if we work together to remove the present limitations of batteries and/or other fixed non-regenerative power sources!

Provided by General Chair
Mike Hayes, Tyndall National Institute
Technical Program Chair
Brian Zahnstecher, PowerRox

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