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CEN and CENELEC answer “yes” to the call for partnerships in Research and Innovation

Date

26 Sep 2011

Sections

Innovation & Enterprise
EU Priorities 2020

CEN and CENELEC, the European Standards Organisations, welcome the Communication(1) from the Commission on ‘Partnering in Research and Innovation’ and the invitation to public and private actors to join forces at European level to apply solutions to major challenges. The Communication recognizes the importance of standardization in strengthening the coherence of the European R&I landscape. CEN and CENELEC are committed to participate and support the Innovation Union in the future Partnerships on societal challenges.

Research and Innovation Partnerships on societal challenges will benefit from standardization. These Partnerships are going to bring together all interested stakeholders to find common solutions to societal challenges such as climate change, energy and resource scarcity, health and ageing. These solutions will be vital for tomorrow’s Europe. That is why we have to ensure that they are safe, interoperable, shared and disseminated all over Europe. European Standards are the right tool to ensure that this takes place.

Standardization provides a bridge between research and innovation, and is an essential key to bring research results closer to the market. Many EU research projects already take advantage of these opportunities and have integrated standardization in their activities.

For example, in order to fight and mitigate climate change, we have to understand the soil on which we live better. The EU funded I-SOIL project(2) is working on the interactions between soil related sciences. The project aims at developing, validating and evaluating necessary concepts and strategies for the transfer of measured physical parameter distribution into maps. Among the activities of I-SOIL is the development of a European Standard around a Best Practice Approach for electromagnetic induction measurements of the near surface.

European Standards can help shorten the time to market for innovative new products and services. Through dedicated tools, including web pages and a Research Helpdesk, CEN and CENELEC are at the disposal of researchers and companies willing to ensure their project benefits from standardization.

You can contact our Research Helpdesk at: research@cencenelec.eu

You can visit the dedicated CEN and CENELEC web pages at:

www.cen.eu/go/research and www.cenelec.eu/go/research

1 COM(2011) 572- http://ec.europa.eu/research/era/pdf/partnering_communication.pdf

2 http://www.isoil.ufz.de/

Media Contact:

Ludovic Highman

Editorial Project Manager

Tel. +32 2 550 08 32

E-mail: lhighman@cencenelec.eu

ABOUT CEN

The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) is a business catalyst in Europe, removing trade barriers for European stakeholders such as industry, public administration, service providers, consumers and other stakeholders. Its mission is to foster the European economy in global trading, the welfare of European citizens, and the environment. Through its services, CEN provides a platform for the development of European Standards and other specifications.

CEN’s 31 National Members work together to develop voluntary European Standards (ENs) in various sectors to build a European Internal Market for goods and services and to position Europe in the global economy. By supporting research, and helping disseminate innovation, standards are a powerful tool for economic growth. More than 60.000 technical experts as well as business federations, consumer and other societal interest organizations are involved in the CEN network that reaches over 480 million people. For further information, please visit: www.cen.eu

ABOUT CENELEC

The European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization is officially responsible for standardization in the electrotechnical field. In an ever more global economy, CENELEC fosters innovation and competitiveness, making technology available not only to major businesses but also to SMEs through the production of voluntary standards. CENELEC creates market access at the European level but also at the international level through its cooperation agreement with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

Through the work of its 31 Members together with its experts, the industry federations and consumers, Electrotechnical European Standards are created in order to help shape the European Internal Market, to encourage technological development, to ensure interoperability and to guarantee the safety and health of consumers and provide environmental protection. Detailed information available at www.cenelec.eu