Global ICT Standards for Innovation and Growth in Europe

We would like to invite you to a Breakfast Briefing at the European Parliament on Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 8:00 am. The topic is “Global ICT Standards for Innovation and Growth in Europe”. The event is hosted by the Chair to the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), Malcolm Harbour.

The Briefing will be held at the Salon des Députés and will last from 0800-0930 hours, breakfast will be provided. This briefing will provide the opportunity to discuss about proposed legal changes to European ICT Standardisation and provide a broad spectrum of opinion from different stakeholders:

The European Commission presented a legal package on European Standardisation in June this year consisting of a Commission Communication (COM(2010)311) and a draft Regulation (COM(2010)315). The latter is now in the legal decision making process with the European Parliament and the Council.

In this draft Regulation, the Commission proposed some major changes for the ICT sector in order to make global ICT standards available for implementation and use in Europe. The ICT sector is a dynamic and high-growth market in Europe. But in order to be truly competitive, innovative and efficient, interoperability and openness have to be ascertained in the digital market. In this note, the Digital Agenda flagship initiative recognises that the use of standards and specifications and the promotion of open infrastructures are key factors for economical growth within the Internal Market. 

A large number of the most relevant Standards and Specifications in the ICT sector are developed in open, global fora and consortia like W3C, OASIS or the IETF. These standards and specifications are widely used and implemented and demonstrate their value in daily use. However, due to current EU law it has not been allowed to directly reference these standards and specifications in EU policies nor in public procurement. This is a critical problem for a modern and competitive ICT policy in Europe, a matter which is also addressed in the draft Regulation by the European Commission.

Europe strives for being in a position to lead globally on innovation. There are many new innovative areas where technologies are combined and integrated and where ICT standards and specifications play a key role. Examples include eHealth, smartGRID, eGovernment, intelligent transportation, etc.  Policy makers can drive innovation in these areas by effective innovation policies.

This breakfast briefing will provide the opportunity to discuss about the proposed legal changes and provide a broad spectrum of opinion from different stakeholders:

Agenda 

We hope that you will be able to accept this invitation. We are sure that the exchange and the discussion will provide valuable information on the legal proposal and on the needs and opportunities for successfully leveraging global ICT standards for innovation and growth in Europe.