Konstantinos Karachalios

Konstantinos Karachalios served as Managing Director of the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA) and as a member of the IEEE Management Council from 2012 to 2024. During his tenure, he significantly expanded the IEEE SA’s scope across geographic regions, technologies, industry sectors, target audiences and new types of standards.

As a member of the leadership team, he helped position IEEE as a global epicentre for addressing the wider consequences of technological development. In particular, this encouraged and guided techno-scientific communities to assume concrete responsibility for the socio-political consequences of their professional activities through the development of appropriate standards. It also contributed to the considerable growth now evident in public debate and academic activity surrounding AI ethics.

Previously, at the European Patent Office, he worked in support of the European and international public interest, including by providing technical assistance for institutional capacity-building in developing countries. He brought a pragmatic approach to the initially contentious negotiations over technology transfer under the Paris Agreement, initiating and leading the development of a publicly accessible and continuously updated patent database covering known climate-change mitigation and adaptation technologies.

Konstantinos is a mechanical engineer and holds a doctorate in nuclear safety. He received both degrees from the University of Stuttgart.