European Commission and the European Digital SME Alliance sign the Joint Initiative on Standardisation.

The president of the European DIGITAL SME Alliance, Oliver Grün, joined Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska in Amsterdam, to co-sign the Joint Initiative on Standardisation. The Initiative launched by the European Commission together with Member States and private partners focuses on modernising, prioritising and streamlining the delivery of standards by the end of 2019. All the signatories were invited by the Dutch Presidency of the EU to a ceremony at the Europe building of Amsterdam to celebrate the agreement.

ICT standards are a powerful tool to create open technological ecosystems where digital SMEs can thrive and innovate. Standardisation is a way to make available new technologies and services, disclose and share innovation, where different companies can implement and contribute to an ecosystem. This is an open and collaborative environment, as opposed to proprietary solutions developed by companies on their own.

Next to its commitment to contribute to the Joint Initiative, the European DIGITAL SME Alliance will also closely monitor the implementation of the specific actions as to ensure that SMEs can actually benefit from them.

Oliver Grün commented: “We believe that standards are a great opportunity for SMEs to innovate and access new markets and a great chance for society to benefit from a high pace innovation at good prices.”

He continued, “Today we signed a commitment of behalf of our digital SME constituents, together with many other industrial and societal stakeholders as well as national governments and the Commission. We welcome that the Joint Initiative encompasses a wide representation of stakeholders – including digital SMEs – and paves the way for better standardisation.”

Read the signed Joint Initiative on Standardisation.