ICES WORKSHOP AND WSC ACADEMIC DAY 2011: OUTCOME
1) The event
The initiative
The ICES Workshop and WSC Academic Day 2010 took place on 27-29 June 2011 in Hangzhou, China.
The initiative was conceived as a way to promote the dialogue between academic institutions and the international standards community, to raise awareness and to foster cooperation and possible joint initiatives.
It was attended by about 70 participants from more than 12 countries, primarily university professors and other academics, representatives of national standards bodies (NSBs1 ) and other standards developing organizations (e.g. ASTM and IEEE).
The programme
The ICES workshop (27-28 June) covered various aspects of the relation between standardization and academia, including:
- academic research on subject matters concerning standardization (e.g. economic, management, innovation, legal, policy and technical, discipline-specific issues related to standardization)
- existing academic curricula in standardization, and
- teaching and research materials covering standardization.
The WSC Academic Day (29 June) was focused on the theme of cooperation between standards developing organizations and academic institutions. Updated information was exchanged on:
- initiatives undertaken by ISO, IEC and ITU targeting academia,
- experiences of national standards bodies cooperating with universities (concerning e.g. the development of new academic programmes and content materials for education)
2) Results and directions for future action
The event was instrumental:
- to share experiences about education materials and tools;
- to highlight initiatives undertaken in various countries (including e.g. dialogue with governments or cooperation between NSBs, SDOs and universities) to develop and promote education about standardization; and
- to discuss how to share information and best practices more effectively and further develop cooperation between NSBs SDOs and academia.
The main outcomes are summarized below.
1. Confirmation of the usefulness of the partnership between WSC and ICES
Participants underlined the usefulness of this partnership, instrumental to consolidate interests, experiences, and contributions to education about standardization and to avoid duplication of efforts. All participants, and in particular the representatives of NSBs, also supported the organization of a joint annual workshop. BSN (Indonesia) proposed to organize the next workshop – proposal supported by ICES.
2. Development of a social network
It was proposed to develop a focused interest group on Linkedin or else, with a view to have an agile and friendly forum where to exchange information on matters of common interest regarding education about standardization.
The proposal was supported by most participants.
3. Development of a repository of education modules and related materials (existing or under development)
The need for a coordinated effort to build an international repository of education modules and related materials was re-affirmed – to promote exchange of information with a view to allow all the interested parties to take advantage of what is already available and to better orient future efforts.
ISO informed the participants of its readiness and willingness to start the implementation of this project. IEC expressed its interest and intention to partner with ISO, and suggested to use the ISO/IEC information center web site to host the repository.
Participants welcomed this proposal, underlining the importance of re-using and adding value to already existing deliverables (e.g. the APEC repository and the materials developed by Prof. Hesser), avoiding duplication of efforts.
4. Development and dissemination of good practices re: interaction between NSBs and academia
This development was particularly recommended by participants from Asian and developing countries.