With China now the leading center for manufacturing worldwide, it’s to the advantage of both China and the West for China to be fully integrated into the standards-creating process globally. Japan has long been integrated in this way, but maintaining that relationship remains a priority.
IEEE SA participants visited both of these 
countries in June 2012, presenting to and meeting with industry organizations in many significant sectors. This ranged from standards organizations such as CNIS (China National Institute of Standardization) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in Tokyo, to industry specific groups such as State Nuclear Power Technology Corp. in Beijing or the Association of Radio Industries and Businesses in Japan, to individual companies such as Toshiba.
A major part of the presentation was on the subject of the new standards paradigm, an initiative between several major standards organizations including IEEE to support what they call the OpenStand principles for cooperative standards development. The shared “OpenStand” principles—based on the effective and efficient standardization processes that have made the Internet and Web the premiere platforms for innovation and borderless commerce—are proven in their ability to foster competition and cooperation, support innovation and interoperability and drive market success.
Particularly in societies where development is associated with top-down initiatives, introducing this new model and showing why it is a path for fostering cooperation, innovation and healthy competition is an important part of a truly global approach to standards development and acceptance.
