Standards Focus

September 2010 | In This Issue

Latest SA Outreach Illustrates Growth of IEEE Standards in China

Members of IEEE-SA Corporate Advisory Group (CAG) and the IEEE-SA Board of Governors (BOG) traveled to China in May for a series of outreach visits, receptions and workshops that showcased the growing role of IEEE standards development to the country's technical community.

The Board of Governors and its committees held their governance meetings in an open forum, obtaining invaluable feedback on standards related focus areas within Chinese industry. "The growing recognition among our Chinese colleagues of the importance of globally relevant standards developed in an international standards organization has resulted in increased interest in initiating new standards work in IEEE," says Steve Mills, IEEE-SA President-Elect. "I expect to see an increase in Chinese-initiated projects in the next few years."

IEEE 802 in China
One of the focal points for the 12-day trip was a week-long meeting of the IEEE 802 Committee. More than 400 people, including 57 Chinese nationals and representatives from the Chinese government, attended the meeting's opening ceremony on 17 May, which was organized by IEEE 802 in cooperation with the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem Information Technology (SIMIT).

Throughout the rest of IEEE 802 week, productive technical-development meetings drew attendance from a wide range of Chinese and international companies and organizations. Of note was a significant process meeting that brought together several Chinese standards organizations with the IEEE 802 wireless group to exchange information on their hierarchies and structures. An opportunity for expanded technology exchange was identified in the Wireless Personal Area Network arena.

Technology Discussions
In addition to supporting the IEEE 802 meetings, members of the IEEE BoG and CAG also participated in a number of outreach meetings with Chinese standards-development groups involved with linking the Chinese government to industry. On 20 May, IEEE-SA met with the Intelligent Grouping & Resource Sharing (IGRS) group, which is responsible for an important Chinese national standard of the same name. IGRS expressed to IEEE-SA interest in possibly bringing future versions of the standard, or other projects, into IEEE-SA. A meeting with the Digital TV (DTV) group was held the same day, with similar interests expressed. Input is also being sought on how the communities may collaborate in the future.

On 21 May, IEEE-SA met with the Chinese group responsible for another national standard, Audio-Video Standard (AVS). A few weeks later, AVS expressed an interest in setting up an IEEE working group and making AVS an IEEE standard. This project idea has since been shared with the appropriate technical groups in IEEE and discussions are underway regarding the next steps.

Discussions and Workshops
Representatives from Beijing Jiaotong University, China Mobile, China Telecom, Huawei, Lenovo and other Chinese companies and universities met with IEEE-SA on 24 May for an afternoon-long panel discussion. The goal was for participants already involved with the development of entity projects at IEEE-SA to share directly with the IEEE-SA delegation that organized the meeting their success stories, as well as their ideas on how IEEE-SA could best meet their standards needs. Many of the groups present expressed interest in expanding their current levels of participation and delving deeper into the IEEE-SA process. Follow-ups will be conducted with China Mobile, ZTE and others.

IEEE and China National Institute of Standardization (CNIS) held an all-day workshop on 27 May. Approximately 50 people attended to hear presentations from IEEE President-Elect Moshe Kam, IEEE-SA President-Elect Steve Mills, Donggeun Choi from the Korea Standards Association, and Klaus Ziegler from the European Union Delegation of the European Commission. This event was offered at no cost to the attendees and was funded by CNIS and the IEEE Educational Activities Board.

n 28 May, IEEE held a morning workshop with the Zhongguancun Science Park, located in the Haidian District of Beijing. Z-Park is the largest science park in Beijing and is home to 130,000 companies and organizations, including 15,000 high tech companies, 83 universities, and over 200 research institutes. The workshop was organized by the IEEE China Office and Z-Park in response to the request of the Z-Park leadership to learn more about IEEE and IEEE-SA. Approx 90 people attended. Moshe Kam, Chuck Adams, and Steve Mills provided a presentation series, sharing an overview of IEEE and the Standards Association.

Additional meetings were held with the China Mobile Research Institute, the China Electronics Standardization Institute (CESI), and companies located at Z-Park, including Baidu and Hanwan.

New MoU
Another noteworthy event that took place while SA was in China this past May was a signing ceremony for a new MoU between IEEE and the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), held on 24 May.

The MoU calls for collaboration between the two organizations, focused on the areas of Smart Grid, Ultra High Voltage (UHV) DC transmission, and related technical areas. IEEE-SA staff are currently working directly with members of SGCC to bring into IEEE new projects of significant value to the Chinese and international communities.

China and IEEE
IEEE's growing role in China is an indication of the global economic power of standardization. "We've gotten to the point now where there's a very active interest both in industry and in government standards organizations to work closely with IEEE," says Chuck Adams, IEEE-SA President. "This is a shift from just five years ago, when the Chinese government placed a great deal of emphasis on China-focused, China-based standards. But now the industry in China recognizes their competition is the global marketplace. They are expressing interest in the resources that IEEE can provide to standards development, which provides their industry broader market development opportunities."

In addition, China is important to the future of IEEE. "If you look at where the growth of IEEE is, it's Asia," says Adams. "Asia is the new frontier for standards."

For more information on the IEEE-SA's activities in China, contact Jennie Steinhagen.

Next Stops: Korea and Japan
Following the SA outreaches in China, IEEE conducted another series of outreaches in Korea and Japan during the second half of July. In Korea, important MoUs were signed with TTA (Telecommunications Technology Association) and Korea Electronics Association. In Japan, an MoU was signed between IEEE and TTC (Telecommunication Technology Committee).

Meetings were also held with the Korea Electric Association, Korea Agency for Technology & Standards, Korean Intellectual Property Institute/Office, Japan Electronics & Information Technology Industries Association, Tokyo Electric Power Company, and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, & Industry. (Back to top)