IEDM - a view as a participant and a customer

On this fiftieth anniversary, we discuss some of the inner workings of the IEDM that have enabled its success, as well as its impact on the industry. A perspective from the early 1970s to the present, as well as a future viewpoint is presented. Continually refining the IEDM to be pioneering, impartial, international, educational and (sometimes) entertaining has been deliberate and planned, and is a result of the people, the processes and the structure of the meeting. Owing to these efforts to solicit and exhibit the latest technical advances, many breakthroughs have first appeared here and have fueled the industry´s progress and the world´s interest in this meeting.