Join our LinkedIn Group 'Education about Standardization'
Globalisation has pushed standardization into the limelight making it become not only desirable but also necessary, in its capacity as a trade-enhancing tool that fosters innovation. It is time for this reality to be reflected within all layers of the population by educating the growing range of relevant current, potential or future stakeholders. This is necessary in particular, but not only, for future generations of executives, engineers, entrepreneurs and lawyers who need to be familiarised with and educated about how they can use standards and how they can take part in the process of making standards, in order for them to include standardization from the beginning in their projects or businesses, thereby reaping the full benefits standardization can offer.
Recently, the European institutions have shown their support to education about standardization. Indeed, the European Council ‘Conclusions on standardisation and innovation' (2008) "encourages the Member States to improve the position of standardization in education programmes and academic curricula, in order to familiarise students with the strategic benefits and challenges of standardization, drawing on the expertise of standardization bodies".
In response to the first European Council Conclusions, a 'Joint Working Group on Education about Standardization' (JWG-EaS) was established by the three European Standards Organisations, namely the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).
The European Commission is yet another European institution that has recently showed its concern about increasing awareness about standardization. In its Communication on a Strategic vision for European Standards, (2011) the European Commission asked the European Standards Organisations, the Member States and other standardization bodies to improve awareness and education about standardization. Public knowledge about standardization should be increased by means of training, awareness-raising activities and targeted workshops.
On 29 June 2012, the three European Standards Organisations held a first dialogue on Education about Standardization, with representatives from business, academia, public authorities and the standards organisations.
Contact: should you want to learn more about the activities of CEN and CENELEC on education about standardization, please get in touch with Ségolène Martin, Programme Manager, Research and Integration unit, Innovation Department from CEN and CENELEC.