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As far back as 2017, the pilot Coordination and Support Action CSA H2020 project StandICT.eu was funded and thanks to the continued support from representatives at the European Commission involved at DG CONNECT, DG GROW and DG RTD over the past five years, the project has been able to achieve, as its mandate requested, both a strong, engaged and vibrant standardisation community primarily in ICT. The project has also managed to provide more visibility to European Standardisation competent professionals eager to engage in European and International Standardisation.
Fast forward six years, this report entitled: “Future Standardisation Education Reflections and Recommendations“ is an outcome of the StandICT.eu online event which took place on the 18th January 2023 , which organised this intense 3 hour workshop at a crucial time when the European Green Deal & the New Industrial Strategy for Europe as well as the geopolitical environment call for a strong European presence in international standardisation development. Building up a strong and sustainable pool of European standardisation competent professionals who are ready to engage In European and International Standardisation is crucial.
The report goes on to showcase some of the achievements the project has produced thanks to its funded fellows within the various technological domains where standards are critical including: Digital Twins, Blockchain & DLT, 5G, Digital Product Passport, Artificial Intelligence, Fintech and RegTech, Spatial Computing and GeospatialStandards, eHealth . The results from these domain areas are being picked up in the efforts in defining multiple landscape and gap analysis reports, StandICT.eu delivers, through the work within the Technical Working Groups (TWGs) targeted around specific, important technologies supporting the EU Green Deal and the Industrial Strategy for Europe. The European Commission together with global and European Standardisation Organisations have worked hard to identify solutions on how standardisation can allow stakeholders at all levels to develop a shared understanding and increased standardisation knowledge at large that can cover respectively technological, innovation-supportive and societal aspects that include the potential of standards to safeguard EU core values. The report outlines some of the key opportunities and activities organisations are working on to acknowledge what is happening in Europe, appreciate the benefits of standardisation and to make Europe’s voice heard in international standardisation efforts.
Finally, to position Europe as a global standard-setter, Europe needs to have a robust and sustainable pool of European professionals ready to contribute in European and international standardisation. Joint efforts between educators from EU universities /Higher Education Institutions who already integrate standardisation-related content in their lectures with a coordinated cooperation with industry to help design an innovative teaching concept of standardisation are greatly needed in Europe and look to its global partners who have best practices in place.
The report considers this approach and discusses what is happening already in Europe and provides some recommendations for future priorities within the Standardisation and education space. The report is intended as complementary material to the discussions that will take place amongst the members of the High-Level Forum on European Standardisation meeting scheduled on the 20th January 2023.