Every year, IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA) welcomes staff from national/regional standards bodies or affiliated government ministries to join its Standards Fellowship Program, which happens alongside the IEEE SA Standards Board (SASB) meeting series. The program facilitates ongoing interaction and cooperation between IEEE SA and the participating National/Regional Standards Bodies/Government Ministries. To date, this global program has welcomed 63 standards professionals from 30 countries.
“The IEEE SA Fellowship program is an excellent opportunity to better appreciate the global nature of IEEE SA standards development and adoption as well as the governance structure.”
– Eve Gadzikwa, Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ)
Through the program, participants observe and learn about the IEEE standards development process and technical areas by attending the ongoing IEEE SA SASB meetings. They also receive special introductory tutorials about IEEE/IEEE SA work in relevant areas of interest. Participants not only make connections with IEEE standardization communities, but the program also facilitates a dialogue among the Fellowship participants themselves during dedicated Fellowship program roundtable sessions.
In 2020, eight standards professionals from seven countries participated virtually in the IEEE Fellowship program:
- Danny Akerman, Standards Institution of Israel (SII)
- Tarek Al-Sitt, GCC Standardization Organization (GSO), Saudi Arabia
- Marbeth Delgado Castro, Technical Standards Institute of Costa Rica (INTECO)
- Tek Bahadur Chhetri and Chenzom, Bhutan Standards Bureau (BSB)
- Eve Gadzikwa, Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ)
- Guadalupe Gonzalez, National Secretariat of Energy (NSE), Panama
- Yilma Mengistu Mamo, Ethiopian Standards Agency (ESA)
“Participating in the IEEE SA Standards Fellowship Program has been an eye-opener. I really enjoyed the interaction with colleagues from different places. Of course, the organization of the program has been great.”
– Danny Akerman, Standards Institution of Israel (SII)
Through a series of interactive presentations, the virtual program introduced Standards Fellowship participants to IEEE/IEEE SA, the IEEE standards development process, the IEEE standards adoption process, IEEE SA Open, and the IEEE SA governance meeting series. In two roundtable discussions, participants exchanged thoughts and experiences with each other around various standardization issues faced in their own countries.
“It is very valuable how interactive the sessions are, which allows other countries to learn about our process and experiences, and also collect the experiences of other countries, all this having the case of success as a guide for IEEE.”
– Marbeth Delgado, Technical Standards Institute of Costa Rica (INTECO)
“On behalf of NSE Panama, the training received during the IEEE SA Standards Fellowship Program provided us with an insight into how the IEEE SA Standards Association is structured and how it works. We shared our own national experiences and I am sure it was a win-win interaction. I am honored to have been a part of it.”
– Guadalupe Gonzalez, National Secretariat of Energy (NSE), Panama
During the week, participants discussed their common experiences in areas such as stakeholder participation, mandatory vs. voluntary standardization, prioritizing standards, emerging technologies, regional standardization, and capacity building. Participants also experienced IEEE business practices and transparent standardization methodologies firsthand by attending the IEEE SASB meetings.
“We were given a lot of information during the IEEE SA Standards Fellowship Program. For ESA, the standards adoption is the most challenging due to the differences between the target market requirements and local market requirements and practice and it points to different approaches for adoption, adaption or referencing international standards with respect to export and local market. NesCom, RevCom, and the IEEE SA Standards Board were important sessions which helped me understand and share the experience of the true nature of IEEE’s transparent standards development process. Thank you to IEEE SA!”
– Yilma Mengistu, Ethiopian Standards Agency (ESA)
In addition to being able to observe how the SASB works to coordinate the development, publication and revision of IEEE standards, participants were able to hear about the latest Project Authorization Request (PAR) approvals while attending the New Standards Committee (NesCom) meeting, and learn about the latest standards approvals in the Review Committee’s (RevCom) meeting.
“The very first Virtual IEEE SA Fellowship Program week has been a very interesting experience for BSB. Especially the information about the IEEE standards adoption process and the interactive group activities were most valuable to us, as it enables BSB to learn from other SDOs. Finally, the IEEE SA Standards Board meeting proceedings were a valuable experience for me.”
– Tek Bahadur Chhetri, Bhutan Standards Bureau (BSB)
“It was an honor for GSO to participate in the Virtual IEEE SA Standards Fellowship Program. In the future, it would be great to also get involved in the technical working groups. Thank you IEEE SA!”
– Tarek Al-Sitt, Gulf Standardization Organization (GSO), Saudi Arabia
If you would like to take part in the next IEEE SA Standards Fellowship Program, staff from national/regional standards bodies or affiliated government ministries are invited to apply. In case of interest, please contact us.
Author: Kristin Little
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