On 21 May IEEE SA held a joint event in Brussels with DIGITALEUROPE – the European trade association representing the digital technology industry – to take stock of the work done by the Multi-Stakeholder Platform (MSP) on ICT Standardisation since its creation in late 2011. The event was attended by around 50 participants including representatives from the European Commission, national competent authorities as well as from the ICT industry. IEEE was represented by David Law and Karine Iffour.
Created during the standardization review process that resulted in EU Regulation 1025/2012 on European standardization, the MSP has played a key role in ensuring that innovation is based on voluntary, global and consensus-based standards and in avoiding duplication of standards where these already exist, hence speeding up market uptake of new technology solutions. As an active member of the platform, IEEE has been an important voice advising the European Commission on ICT standardization policy and on identifying standards for referencing in public procurement.
As member of the speakers’ panel, David Law highlighted the key role of standards in driving innovation and ensuring interoperability. Law’s views were shared by many of the participants, such as W3C, who advocated for more standardization and more cooperation in the ICT sector, pointing out that those two elements could lead to better responses to the challenges that internet poses. In particular, W3C made reference to the importance of the OpenStand Principles, namely cooperation, transparency, broad consensus, availability, empowerment and voluntary adoption, in shaping a global community for open innovation.
The event was also an opportunity for MSP members to share their experience in contributing to the platform’s work since its launch and convey their views on what their future priorities should be.
Michel Catinat, Head of Unit, DG Enterprise and Industry and MSP co-chair, concluded the meeting by acknowledging the success of the MSP over the past 2 years. He called for additional actions in order to maximize the impact of the Rolling Plan and to speed up the process of identifying specifications.