Europe’s legislative landscape is shifting through regulations like the Cyber Resilience Act, the AI Act, and the Data Act, which increasingly impact software. As software development increasingly relies on open source and agile methodologies, existing standardisation bodies face difficulties adapting their processes to meet these needs. This event will explore whether the European Standardisation System can adapt or if a new entity is required to address the specific needs of IT standardisation.
Is there a need to establish a new European Standards Organisation (ESO) to handle the increasingly software-driven nature of IT standardisation and legal requirements from EU software legislation? While historically successful, current structures and processes of the existing ESOs are seen by many in the IT and open source communities as ill-suited for the fast-evolving demands of software. This roundtable will bring together a broad range of participants from industry, policy, and the open technology community to openly discuss challenges in IT standardisation and the need for a new ESO and the potential requirements for such an organisation.
Where? Avenue des Arts 56, DaVinci room
When? 16:30 – 19:15
Agenda
16:30 – 17:00
Welcome and Registration
17:00 – 17:10
Opening Remarks
Dr. Sachiko Muto, Chair, OpenForum Europe
17:10 – 17:50
Panel Discussion: Challenges in IT Standardisation
This panel will provide an overview of the current European Standardisation Organisations (ESOs), highlighting the challenges they face with IT and software standardisation, as a tool to ensure conformance and compliance. This panel will identify the gaps and challenges they find when it comes to producing the software standards placed in EU legislation (CRA, Data Act, AI Act) and how ESOs and open source communities are working together in bringing expertise to the relevant Technical Committees, and their views on the relation between ESOs and open source communities.
Moderator – Dr. Sachiko Muto, Chair, OpenForum Europe
Speakers:
Pier Francesco Sammartino, DG GROW
Emilio Davila – HoU ICT Standardisation sector, DG CNECT
Cinzia Missiroli – Deputy Director General and Director Standardization, CEN-Cenelec
Jan Ellsberger – Director-General, ETSI
17:50 – 18:30
Open Discussion: Possible Solutions to make IT standardisation work
This panel will follow up on the requirements placed by EU legislation and the challenges highlighted in the previous panel. This panel will explore possible solutions, such as the argument for establishing a fourth ESO dedicated to software standards, and discuss how they could be the solution to current inefficiencies and gaps in the system. Participants will outline the structural, governance, and process-related requirements for these solutions. This will focus on how such an organisation could better serve the fast-evolving IT and software sectors, with emphasis on open source and agile standardisation processes, taking into account the identified challenges and gaps from the previous panel.
Moderator – Ciarán O’Riordan. Senior Policy Advisor at OpenForum Europe
Speakers:
- Jochen Friedrich – Technical Relations Executive, IBM
- Catharina Maracke – Senior Advisor, Nokia
- Samina Husain – Secretary General, Ecma International
- Tobie Langel – Principal & Founder, UnlockOpen
- Mercedes Mira Costa – Senior Program Manager – Industry Standards, HP
18:30 – 18:40
Closing Remarks
Dr. Sachiko Muto, Chair, OpenForum Europe
18:40 – 19:15
Networking drinks
Organised by OpenForum Europe as part of the StandICT.eu 2026 project.
