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Today, technology plays a central role in all of our personal and professional lives. For governments and businesses across industries, finding new ways to make IT smarter -- more flexible, intuitive and adaptive -- will continue to be a primary focus. However as we look towards the future, "usability" will become even more critical to enabling the world's 450 million baby boomers, 650 million people with disabilities, and 900 million people with low literacy to use increasingly inaccessible advanced technology systems for government, the workplace, healthcare, travel, transportation and others. Recognizing these developments, IEEE (http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/home/index.html) and IBM are partnering to launch a new conference to identify the next generation of accessibility issues and the impact of technology 5 to 10 years in the future. "Accessing the Future: A Global Collaborative Exploration for Accessibility in the Next Decade," will bring together leaders from government, academia, industry and advocacy groups to stimulate essential public- and private-sector dialogue on IT accessibility, produce a concrete outline of future technology requirements and develop specific roadmap recommendations. This first conference will focus on four areas: (1) Universal design and accessibility standards; (2) Patient-centered collaborative care; (3) Accessible online workplaces and communities; and (4) Transportation and Travel