The IEEE Global History Network

Name

The IEEE Global History Network

Legal name

The IEEE Global History Network

Website

https://ieeeghn.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

The IEEE Global History Network runs ETHW, a free, open-access MediaWiki-based repository of engineering and technology history co-published with eleven partner engineering societies (IEEE, ASME, ASCE, AIAA, AIChE, AIME, ASHRAE, SPE, SWE, AIST, SME) and serving engineers, researchers, students, educators, and the public.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Engineering History Knowledge Platform

NAICS

Libraries and Archives (51921)

SIC

Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

STEM & Engineering Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Knowledge Management & Wikis (BPAMAMAH)

Keywords

• Engineering history documentation
• Oral history archives
• Technology history wiki
• Engineering education resources
• Historical engineering archives

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Not Disclosed: The revenue model for the IEEE Global History Network / Engineering and Technology History Wiki is not explicitly disclosed in available source materials. As a collaborative initiative of major engineering societies, the network appears to operate as a nonprofit knowledge repository, likely sustained through institutional contributions, society memberships, and educational grants rather than commercial revenue generation.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The IEEE Global History Network operates the Engineering and Technology History Wiki (ETHW), a collaborative, free, open-access wiki-based platform providing Encyclopedia articles, Oral Histories, First-Hand Histories, Personal Narratives, Landmarks and Milestones, Archival Collections, and Museums directories documenting the history of engineering and technology. Content is contributed by historians, engineers, academics, and subject matter experts and is organized across 15+ engineering subject categories. The platform is jointly supported by 11 major engineering societies and is freely accessible to any user without registration or payment.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Encyclopedia

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and supporting.

• IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIEEE is one of the primary founding partners of the Engineering and Technology History Wiki. As the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology, IEEE provides significant content, institutional credibility, and professional network access to the platform.
• ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerASME is a founding partner society of the ETHW, contributing content on mechanical engineering history, landmarks, and oral histories from mechanical engineers to the collaborative platform.
• ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerASCE serves as a partner society contributing civil engineering history content, documentation of civil engineering landmarks, and oral histories from civil engineering professionals.
• AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAIAA partners with ETHW to provide aerospace engineering history content, including oral histories of aerospace pioneers and documentation of aviation and aerospace milestones.
• AIChE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAIChE contributes chemical engineering history content, process engineering landmarks, and oral histories from chemical engineers to the ETHW platform.
• AIME (American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAIME contributes mining, metallurgical, and petroleum engineering history content, including oral histories and documentation of resource extraction engineering milestones.
• ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerASHRAE partners to document HVAC/R (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration) engineering history and environmental control technologies.
• SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSPE contributes petroleum engineering history content, including oral histories from petroleum engineers and documentation of energy extraction and processing milestones.
• SWE (Society of Women Engineers)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSWE partners to document the history of women in engineering, contributing oral histories and first-hand accounts that highlight diversity in the engineering profession.
• AIST (Association for Iron and Steel Technology)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerAIST contributes materials engineering and steel industry history content to the ETHW, documenting the evolution of metallurgical and manufacturing processes.
• SME (Society of Manufacturing Engineers)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerSME contributes manufacturing engineering history content, documenting the evolution of manufacturing technologies, processes, and industrial engineering milestones.

Scale indicators2 records

Direct peers

• Internet Archive: A nonprofit digital library preserving websites, audio, video, and texts; comparable to ETHW as a free, open-access archive of cultural and historical content with a preservation mission.
• Computer History Museum: A museum and archive dedicated to preserving computing and technology history through oral histories, exhibits, and archival collections — closely comparable to ETHW's domain specialization in engineering/technology history.
• Deutsches Museum: One of the world's largest science and technology museums, maintaining extensive archival documentation and exhibits on engineering milestones across disciplines — comparable in mission and historical depth.
• Science History Institute: A museum, archive, and research institute focused on the history of chemistry, engineering, and the life sciences, with primary-source collections and oral histories that mirror ETHW's editorial model.
• Charles Babbage Institute: An archive and research center at the University of Minnesota dedicated to the history of computing and information technology, with oral history collections directly analogous to ETHW's engineering oral histories.
• Hagley Museum and Library: A museum and library focused on the history of American enterprise, industrial technology, and engineering, with archival materials and oral histories that overlap ETHW's content model.

Broad incumbents

• Wikipedia: The largest open-content wiki platform; while broader in scope, Wikipedia shares ETHW's MediaWiki foundation and community-driven editorial model, making it a useful structural benchmark.
• Smithsonian Institution: A large-scale museum and research complex preserving historical artifacts, documents, and oral histories across science and technology; operates at much greater scale but in an adjacent preservation and education space.
• National Archives (NARA): The U.S. federal archival institution preserving government and historical records; far broader in scope, but operationally analogous as a free public archive of historical documentation.

Others

• JSTOR: A digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources; not a direct competitor but an adjacent platform serving similar academic and educational use cases for primary-source research.

Market position

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The IEEE Global History Network