Standards shape our world: they determine the way we use and design our buildings and technologies, our transport and energy, how we produce and consume our food, how we provide healthcare, how we interact with the environment and many other things. EU Standards have made the EU single market possible and successful and ensure that EU industries and companies are in leadership positions around the world. Standards are an essential part of any trade agreement, are often mentioned in laws and often reflect the values of the entity that creates or calls upon them.
The backbone of technological standards is technological expertise. It is technology experts that mainly produce standards in a plethora of technical committees, subcommittees and technical groups. Given the pervasive nature of technology in society, such technological expertise is not sufficient to provide for the societal implications of the use of technology. Standards today are also a society and opinion former as well as a market enabler.
The mission of JRC is to provide evidence-based knowledge and science in support to EU policies that positively impact society.
Translating science into standards for policymaking has a long history in JRC, but more increasingly the organisation injects knowledge related to societal issues and concerns into the standardisation process. This is the case for AI, data security and exchange, cybersecurity, digital services and many other issues related to new technologies.
Involvement of stakeholders, inclusive practises and interdisciplinary and foresight methods of work are used by JRC in support to state-of-the-art standardisation. JRC’s annual program Putting science into Standards (PSIS), in collaboration with CEN-CENELEC, is a fast-track method for standardisation of the potentially high societal impact of technologies and services. PSIS brings research, industry, policymaking, standardisation and potential beneficiary communities together under the same umbrella to take stock of current research and standardisation initiatives and to take the necessary steps to fulfil future standardisation requirements.
All past PSIS workshops are listed in the brochure.
