Technical norms and standards play a crucial role in opening up markets, in facilitating technology transfer and in deregulating technical legislation.
This was emphasised by the Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, Michael Glos, and the Vice-President of the European Commission, Günter Verheugen, at the European Conference “Innovation and Market Access through Standards”, which was held in Berlin on 27 March 2007.
The conference, featuring high-ranking international speakers and around 350 participants from countries inside and outside Europe, was organised in cooperation with DIN, the German Institute for Standardisation, as part of Germany’s EU Council Presidency The main aim of the conference is to illustrate the important role that standardisation plays for Germany and Europe as locations for business and industry and to point out new prospects for the innovative standardisation of the future. Presentations from such different areas as medical technology, mining and e-government illustrate the growing importance of standardisation in international locational competition.
Federal Minister Glos: “In order to gain a competitive edge, we currently face a number of tasks in terms of standardisation policy. First and foremost, we need to strengthen international standardisation in order to simplify trade. Second, we need to fully realise the standardisation potential for innovations. And third, we need to make sure that small and medium-sized companies benefit even more from standardisation.”
Standards break down technical trade barriers and this makes them a crucial key to opening the market. China, for instance, intends to incorporate 80 % of all international standards into its code of rules by 2010. This is fully in line with the World Trade Organisation, whose members have undertaken to base their technical legislation on international standards.
As a strategic tool, standards also help to make knowledge available and to establish new technologies. Federal Minister Glos explains: “A perfect example of this is the introduction of laser technology. German companies are global market leaders in this field, also thanks to the standards that have acted like a transmission belt between scientific knowledge and industrial application.” Numerous small and medium-sized German businesses have also benefited from this.
An exhibition organised by federal agencies and publicly funded institutions is being held alongside the two-day conference and is entitled “Normung zum Anfassen” (Hands-on Standardisation). Examples from the areas of job safety, termite eradication, nanotechnology, regional planning and export control highlight the fact that standardisation plays an important role in very many and very different sectors.
