Standards to support research and innovation

Standards play an important role for innovation. By codifying information on the state of the art of a particular technology, they enable dissemination of knowledge, interoperability between new products and services and provide a platform for further innovation.

Europe 2020 Flagship Initiative, Innovation Union, COM(2010) 546

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Five things standards can do for you

1 Standards support all stages of innovationStandards support each stage of the innovation process and can help ensure compatibility and interoperability of products and technologies, which is also to the benefit of the end-user ➔ see page 4

2 Faster to market with standardsStandards are a good tool to ensure fast introduction of innovative products and technologies to the market ➔ see page 6

3 Create impact with your research results Standards contribute to the dissemination of knowledge and exploitation of research results, alongside scientific publications and patents; this way, your research results can help to advance the state of the art ➔ see page 8

4 Build trust in your innovationsStandards help promote innovative products and technologies by building confidence among users and consumers, while underpinning global knowledge exchange and trade ➔ see page 10

5 Standards are universally recognizedAs well as giving you access to the European market, many European standards are also aligned with international standards ➔ see page 12

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At the level of basic research, standards can have an underpinning or connecting function, such as agreeing terminology or basic testing. As research and innovation moves further towards development, so can standards: by enabling and supporting aspects such as design, testing, compatibility and quality.

In Germany we would say that innovation and standardization are two sides of the same coin. On the one side, innovating means making something new and different from anything else. On the other, this can seem to go against the principle of unifying products and processes. In truth, however, there is no opposition between innovation and standardization; we at FIR understand standardization as the basis for innovation. It is only through having standards and best practice that companies are able reliably and systematically to identify potential for optimization. This potential can give rise to innovations which are then tested in a stable environment. What’s more, if innovative products and processes become successful, they should again be brought into a standardized format. So, you could say that innovation and standardization are two iterative stages of continuous improvement.

Volker Stich Managing Director, Institute for Industrial Management (FIR e.V.), RWTH Aachen

Standards support all stages of innovation

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Building communities making standards: participating in standards-making can also connect you to others who are active in your field or related areas, and can help to build your networks.

Research question

INNOVATION & STANDARDIZATION

Research and innovation stage

COMMUNITY

Validation

new ideas?

■ Terminology ■ Measurement ■ Testing

Basic research

■ Design ■ Interface ■ Measurement

Applied research

■ Testing ■ Compatibility ■ Safety

Experimental development

■ Quality ■ Product/ service specific

Access market & maintenance

Standards possibilities

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Why use standards for transferring research results to the market?

➜ Standards are made through building consensus, and the process of codifying the knowledge that they contain is validated through wide consultation.

➜ Standards are widely and easily accessible to academia, public authorities, businesses and other stakeholder groups.

➜ The standardization process provides an output for research that is ultimately linked to creating markets for new technologies, and other which can connect to the multitude of existing standards and technologies.

➜ Because standards can easily be referenced (e. g. in procurement decisions), they can help to establish a new technology and create its market.

Faster to market with standards

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Tecnalia’s vision is based on the ‘Inspiring business’ message. In this context, we see standardization as a powerful tool for transforming innovations arising from R&D projects into marketable, tangible results and future business opportunities. In this way, considering standardization from the earliest design stages is key to accelerating market entry of new products and services and to avoiding potential trade barriers.

Jesús López de Ipiña Project Manager, Industry and Transport Division, Tecnalia

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How can you make and use standards in research and innovation, to maximize the impact of your results?

➜ Use existing standards, e.g. standardized test methods or materials, in your research and refer to best practices.

➜ Join a technical standardization committee (TC) to forward input from your research into standardization and receive feedback from a large variety of experts.

➜ Propose ideas for new standards: your knowledge can be developed via a workshop-type environment into a fast-track “informal” standard. Whilst it does not (yet) have the status of a “full” standard, it can explicitly address fast-evolving environments such as R&D.

➜ Integrate standards in your project proposal.

By contributing to standardization, research and innovation projects can achieve higher visibility and possibly agreement on their research results between the research community and industry, which can otherwise often be very difficult. Standardization opens up possibilities for getting your results out to a broader community and provides processes for discussing them with experts that did not directly take part.

Michael Löscher Senior Project Manager, European Virtual Institute for Integrated Risk Management

Create impact for your research results

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Integrating standards in your project proposal

Include a national standardization organization in your research or innovation project and use their expertise and network for your project

Screen existing standards

Develop new standards activity

Link your project with ongoing standards work (e.g. liaison)

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What are the strategic benefits of making and using standards?

➜ Standards codify knowledge in a format that is usable and accessible to others.

➜ Participation in standards-making builds networks and opens up new opportunities for collaboration.

➜ Standards can lay the foundations for connecting research to real market opportunities, establishing trust in new technologies, and achieving greater levels of adoption. Thus, standards are:

■ setting parameters for interoperability and compatibility with other systems and technologies,

■ addressing type-testing and prototyping and assisting with the scale-up of technologies,

■ defining and improving technical performance requirements.

➜ Standards still allow innovators to compete on any unique aspects of their technologies, and other factors, such as superior performance.

Build trust in your innovations

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Standardization is an enabler for new markets. Sharing vocabulary makes it easier for us to communicate with our customers. In the standardization process we work together with our customers on new technologies and we use standards to spread innovation.

Alice de Casanove Telecom and Faculty leader in Airbus Defence and Space Engineering Academy and Chairperson of ISO/TC 279 on Innovation Management

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Standards are voluntary and represent agreements between experts from business, industry, academia and society, working with a standardization organization through a process of consensus-building and consultation. Standards form the basis of trade and can support innovation through disseminating knowledge, best practice and interoperability. They represent equality of opportunity, with small and large users alike able to compete. Standards are voluntary, but can also support regulation.

Standards are universally recognized

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Standards can be national, European and international. Many start as national standards, supporting local needs, but are then taken up more widely in Europe (by CEN, CENELEC and ETSI), or internationally (by ISO, IEC and ITU-T), where they can underpin global knowledge exchange and trade. European standards are adopted as national standards in CEN and CENELEC member countries. As a cornerstone of the European Single Market, they greatly influence the European economy.

CEN (European Committee for Standardization) and CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) are officially recognized organizations responsible for developing and defining standards at European level.

CEN and CENELEC work to promote the international harmonization of standards in the framework of technical cooperation agreements with ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission).

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Get involved in standards!

➜ Have you decided to work with standards?

➜ Do you need further information regarding the integration of standards in your research project?

➜ Do you have further questions on how standards can support research and innovation?

Please contact the standards body in your country or the European standardization organizations CEN and CENELEC to help you understand and include standards in research and innovation.

You can find more information and your national contact

at the research helpdesk at www.cencenelec.eu/research/

or you can contact CEN and CENELEC at research@cencenelec.eu

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NORWAY

SWEDEN

DENMARK

GERMANY

NETHERLANDS

BELGIUM

FRANCE

LUXEMBOURG

SWITZERLAND

ITALY

SPAIN

PORTUGAL

UNITED KINGDOM

IRELAND

MALTASYRIACYPRUS

TURKEY

FINLAND

ESTONIA

LATVIA

LITHUANIA

POLAND

CZECH REP.

AUSTRIA

HUNGARY

SLOVAKIA

SLOVENIAROMANIA

BULGARIA

GREECE

ICELAND

FYRO MACEDONIA

CROATIA

Members of CEN and CENELEC

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The content of this brochure has been produced by the BRIDGIT project. BRIDGIT ran from January 2013 to March 2015 and was co-funded by the European Commission and EFTA. The consortium of BRIDGIT consisted of AENOR (Spain), AFNOR (France), ASRO (Romania), BSI (United Kingdom), DIN (Germany), DKE (Germany), DS (Denmark), NEN (Netherlands), SN (Norway), and the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre; with DIN acting as project coordinator.