HISTELCON is a biennial conference series run by the IEEE Region 8 and dedicated to any aspects of the history of electrical engineering, electronics, sensing technologies, computing, telecommunications, and IT-based systems in general as well as their impact on the social and economic development while also covering legal and ethical aspects. From the 2026 edition on, the conference will become annual and multi-regional, rotating among R10, R7, R8 and R9.

HISTELCON 2025 will be the ninth in a row and the first to be held in Germany. Bonn is a natural habitat for homing this conference, since Heinrich Hertz chose Bonn in 1889 as the place of his academic work until his untimely death. Here he constructed the “Bonn Pair of Parabolic Mirrors” visualizing the transmission of electro-magnetic waves. A few kilometers north, an IEEE Historical Milestone commemorates Christian Hülsmeyer’s first demonstration of the RADAR, based on Hertz’ discoveries.

Location. HISTELCON 2025 will be hosted in the facilities of the University Club next to the River Rhine and the historic university buildings right in the city center. Bonn can be reached via Cologne-Bonn Airport and train connections.

Scope. We are open to topics including, but not restricted to: Radar and Communication, Radio Astronomy, Submarine Technology, Self-localization and Navigation, Automotive Sensing and Assistance, Space Travel and Satellites, Technol-ogy Museums, Computers and Microprocessors, Cryptology and Protection, Device and System Vulnerability, Measurement Systems and Units, Humanistic Studies on Technology, Technology Sponsoring. The conference language is English, all presentations will be delivered orally and in person. Only in rare cases of emergency we might think of alternatives.

Who should attend? Researchers and decision makers in industry, academia, and politics driving technological progress, but also intellectuals and journalists forming societal awareness, curators, archivists, historians – all are playing important roles in revealing the history of technology for preparing the future and are invited to participate.

Submissions. Contributions can either be abstracts (1-2 pages) or full papers (4-6 pages) using the IEEE templates for conference proceedings, see homepage, and will undergo a peer-review process. A selection of accepted abstracts and accepted full papers, presented at the Conference, will be submitted for inclusion in the IEEE Xplore Digital Library.

Deadlines:

25.05.2025: Submission of abstracts / papers

15.07.2025: Notification of acceptance

10.08.2025: Submission of the final version

10.08.2025: Early Bird registration

30.09.2025: IEEE HISTELCON begins.

Abstracts and papers can be submitted via the EasyChair system, following https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=histelcon2025 

Contact. 

For any question, please contact w.koch@ieee.org or histelcon2025@fkie.fraunhofer.de. Have a look at the continuously updated homepage with traveling and lodging information, https://2025.ieee-histelcon.org/.

More details can be found in the attached Call-for-Papers