Full Report
This year’s awardees will be honored at the ISA Honors and Awards Gala as part of the Automation Summit and Expo.
Analysis Summary
# Industry News: ISA Celebrates 2025 Excellence Award Winners and Focus on Emerging Tech Communities
## Summary
The International Society of Automation (ISA) has announced its 2025 Celebrating Excellence Award recipients, highlighting significant contributions from leaders like Carlos Mandolesi for enduring service. The awards underscore ISA's commitment to fostering professional development, particularly through the strategic development of technical communities focused on emerging technologies like IIoT and cybersecurity.
## Key Details
- Date: September 02, 2025 (Announcement)
- Companies Involved: International Society of Automation (ISA)
- Category: Industry Recognition/Association News
## The Story
The ISA is honoring its 2025 awardees, including Carlos Mandolesi (Enduring Society Service), Edson da Costa Bortoni (Education), Hector Puyosa (Mentoring), and others, at the upcoming Honors and Awards Gala during the Automation Summit and Expo in October 2025. A key focus of the recognition revolves around Mandolesi’s contributions, specifically his role in establishing the influential Smart Manufacturing and IIoT (SMIIoT) division, which encompassed critical areas like Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and **cybersecurity**. Following a governance reorganization, ISA has shifted focus to "Connect Forums" on the member-only ISA Connect platform to facilitate expertise exchange on these cutting-edge topics across sectors.
## Business Impact
### For the Companies Involved
- **ISA:** The awards ceremony and focus on key contributors reinforce ISA's leadership role in the automation sector and highlight its strategic pivot towards digitally focused technical collaboration (Connect Forums), which is crucial for retaining and attracting members focused on future technologies.
### For Competitors
- Other professional societies must compete with ISA's established structure and its targeted forums addressing high-demand areas like Industrial Cybersecurity and AI within the industrial sphere.
### For Customers
- Customers indirectly benefit from ISA's focus as recognized members and forum participants are actively developing standards and sharing best practices in emerging areas, potentially leading to more robust and optimized industrial systems.
### For the Market
- The ongoing emphasis on SMIIoT components (IIoT, AI, Cybersecurity) confirms these are now central pillars of the modern automation market that professional bodies are formally organizing around.
## Technical Implications
The structure of the former SMIIoT division, explicitly listing **cybersecurity**, digital twin, and AI/ML, signifies the maturation of these technologies from niche concerns to core automation engineering disciplines. The shift to **Connect Forums** suggests a preference for agile, topic-specific knowledge sharing over rigid historical division structures.
## Strategic Analysis
- Market Positioning: ISA is positioning itself as the primary home for professionals navigating the convergence of IT and Operational Technology (OT), driven by smart manufacturing imperatives.
- Competitive Advantage: The successful launch and growth of specialized technical communities (like those succeeding the SMIIoT division) provide a unique, continuous mechanism for standard-setting and peer review in complex areas like industrial cybersecurity.
- Challenges: Ensuring sustained engagement and high-quality technical discourse within the new Connect Forums, especially concerning rapidly evolving fields, will be critical for maintaining member value.
## Industry Reactions
- Analyst opinions suggest that the ISA’s recognition program effectively signals the association's strategic priorities to the wider industry.
- The celebration of leaders behind the SMIIoT initiative validates the industry-wide urgency concerning secure, intelligent automation deployments.
## Future Outlook
- We should expect ISA to increasingly leverage the Connect Forums to launch new standards or recommended practices for topics prominently featured, such as industrial cybersecurity vulnerability management or AI integration guidelines.
- The October summit will likely feature further deep dives into how these technical communities are translating expertise into actionable resources.
## For Security Professionals
Cybersecurity professionals operating in the OT space should view the ISA’s sustained organizational focus on this topic (inherited from the SMIIoT structure) as a strong indication that industry standards and best practices developed through ISA channels will remain highly relevant for securing critical infrastructure. Engagement in the relevant Connect Forums is recommended for real-time insight exchange.