The first edition of the International Technology Roadmap for Wide Bandgap Power Semiconductors (ITRW) was published in September 2019 [1]. This was a watershed moment for the IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS) being the first time that a global roadmap had been attempted by PELS, especially across such a diversity of both technology and applications. Five years on is an ideal time to look back with some perspective on the projections, predictions and reality of wide bandgap (WBG) power semiconductors, its adoptions across a variety of sectors, and in particular look at the questions raised in the first ITRW edition and how they may have changed. The global context since ITRW was published in 2019 also highlights how global events can have a dramatic impact on technological developments with a global pandemic starting just a few months after the publication of ITRW, and its consequences remaining in place for several years. This impacted not only technological work at the research and development stage, but also severely degraded supply chains leading to serious issues of device and module delivery. World events including conflicts and the increasing impact of climate change also had a significant impact on key drivers for electrification, with a consequential push for even more integration of WBG bandgap power devices, more rapidly. It is not overstating the case to say that WBG based power electronics are now well in the mainstream across many technology areas and applications, with many practical challenges being solved or mitigated by engineers across the globe. This article will review some of the key questions raised in ITRW, provide a perspective on how well we did with ITRW in predicting the penetration of WBG power semiconductors and identify lessons that can be learned for such roadmapping efforts in the future.
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