Miyuki Takenaka has been nominated chair of IEC Technical Committee 111, of which she has been a member for the last 19 years. For the last four years she has been the committee’s vice-chair where she has been leading efforts in the field of chemical substances management.
She takes over from departing chair, Christophe Garnier and will assume the leadership of the committee until at least August 2029.
A PhD in Chemistry holder, Takenaka started her career as a senior research scientist for the Toshiba Corporation before becoming programme leader at Toshiba’s R&D centre.
She was also responsible for implementing a Toshiba group compliance programme with the restriction of hazardous substances directive (RoHs) and the regulation on the registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals (REACH).
Takenaka said: “The electrotechnical industry is facing dramatic challenges relating to carbon neutrality and the need for a circular economy. We need to make significant changes to our existing business models and we also need new rules and indicators to help meet these challenge. Meeting these challenges is the major reason I want to become Chair of TC 111. I will boldly tackle these unknowns.”
Takenaka said she hope to further develop horizontal environmental standards relating to carbon neutrality and the circular economy as well as biodiversity. She also pledges to develop a short and long-term strategy which will be as transparent as possible as well as accelerate digitalization in the environmental area and the interoperability with smart standards.