Dr Henk de Vries, associate professor of standardisation at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) and president of the European Academy for Standardisation EURAS, signed the Joint Initiative on Standardisation (JIS) on 13 June in Amsterdam. The initiative aims to modernise, prioritise, and speed up the timely delivery of standards by the end of 2019, and actions will include education and research.

In this Joint Initiative, the EU follows advice by Dr De Vries to not impose EU policies on other stakeholders but rather to co-operate as equals for the benefit of business and society. His next step is to prepare calls for proposals for two research projects on education about standardisation.

Other signatories included Elżbieta Bieńkowska, the European Commission’s commissioner for internal market, industry, entrepreneurship and SMEs; Henk Kamp, Dutch minister of economic affairs; as well as representatives of European and national standardisation organisations and bodies, industry, SMEs, consumer associations, trade unions, environmental organisations and EU member states.

Horizon 2020

Elżbieta Bieńkowska states: "The Joint Initiative on Standardisation brings together public and private organisations in a collaborative, transparent and agile dialogue process to ensure the timely development of state-of-the-art standards in support of fast-changing market needs and public policies." Often seen as merely technical issue, standards are important economic drivers. The Joint Initiative presents a vision for a single and coherent EU standardisation policy which features higher on the political agenda and where the priorities are regularly discussed with the European parliament and the member states. The JIS will better align standard setting priorities with research and innovation impetus, with support from the EU research and innovation programme Horizon 2020.

Endowed chair

RSM has an academic chair for standardisation at RSM, endowed by the Netherlands Standardisation Institute (NEN). In teaching and research, the topic is addressed from a business point of view. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has awarded RSM’s education in this field as the best in the world. In terms of number of publications, Dr Henk de Vries is one of the most productive researchers in this field.

More information

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) is one of Europe’s top-ranked business schools. RSM provides ground-breaking research and education furthering excellence in all aspects of management and is based in the international port city of Rotterdam – a vital nexus of business, logistics and trade. RSM’s primary focus is on developing business leaders with international careers who can become a force for positive change by carrying their innovative mindset into a sustainable future. Our first-class range of bachelor, master, MBA, PhD and executive programmes encourage them to become critical, creative, caring and collaborative thinkers and doers. www.rsm.nl

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