IEEE hosted a breakfast as part of the 5th European Innovation Summit to highlight the importance of open standardization and how it supports innovation that changes the world. IEEE presented a perfect example of this:
- The IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standard, and the IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard, often referred to as WiFi, along with the ITU Optical Transport Network and ETSI GSM, provide the communications foundation on which other Standards Development Organisations, such as the IETF, W3C and OASIS, build upon to provide the Internet. As a result of this, no matter where you are in the world, connecting a device to the Internet is simple and universal.
- It was stated that ICT accounts for 5% of Europe’s employment, and that Europe wants to ensure that it has a climate responsive to an industry with short life-cycles. The European Multi-Stakeholder Platform for ICT Standardisation was created to move in that direction, bringing together leading organizations in ICT with governments and societal stakeholders.
- The goals of standardization are to increase product reliability, ensure process repeatability, foster competition, promote interoperability, and boost consumer confidence.
- Open, market-driven standards that are adopted voluntarily actually fuel innovation, create new markets, and speed up the time to product introduction.
- It was also stated that an innovation-friendly standards system is global, voluntary, and adheres to the WTO principles. Such a system is in line with the principles outlined in the OpenStand initiative that IEEE supports.
