Global technology trends, including those not directly associated with the automotive industry, are shaping the products of the future. These in turn will affect education, the way of teaching, and breadth of topics taught.

Representatives from the FISITA Membership gathered on 10 March 2021 for a strategic-level panel discussion to introduce the five areas of technology that the FISITA Technical Committee is investigating and reporting on to the wider FISITA community; reflect on how FISITA can assess global technology trends and their likely impact on the industry in the coming 5-15 years; and highlight the technologies that will be researched in 2021. A key goal is to seek involvement in forthcoming investigations.

This Online Conference began with a 30-minute presentation by Christophe Aufrère, Group Chief Technical Officer and Senior Vice President at Faurecia and FISITA VP Technical. Aufrère then chaired a panel discussion with:

• Ouafae El-Ganaoui-Mourlan, Chair on Electric, Connected, and Autonomous Vehicle for Smart Mobility, Centre motorisations et mobilité durable, IFP School/ENSPM and FISITA DVP Education

• Dr-Ing. Friedrich Wolf-Monheim Project Manager at Global Ford Research and Advanced Engineering Organization, Lecturer at the Institute of Structural Mechanics and Lightweight Design of the RWTH Aachen University, and FISITA VP Education

• Xuming Zhang Deputy Secretary General of China Society of Automotive Engineers (China SAE) and FISITA DVP Technical.

FISITA Committees and Working Groups define and progress discussions on priority issues in the mobility industry today. This is an example of the output of collaboration between the FISITA Technical and Education committees. Visibility on the latest discussions and access to all FISITA content, from FISITA Forum, Summit and online conferences, to the full library of Output Papers, reports and whitepapers, is one of the key benefits of FISITA membership.