The crux and, indeed, the most challenging aspect of standards creation is the ability of different standards to promote both competition and innovation. Today there are many different approaches to setting standards, including de facto standards set informally through the market and formal standards established by governments or standard setting organisations (SSOs). There are also standards involving proprietary efforts and those based on collaborative or open efforts.
The discussion on standards and how standards are established – through formal or informal means, using IPRs or through non-proprietary means – will only intensify as both the public and private sector seek to promote innovation and competition even more in the future. So how should we judge standard setting organisations (SSOs)? Is formal review of SSOs slowing down the standardisation process and if SSOs are to be measured, how should these rankings be used?
One criticism is that formal review is likely to create more bureaucracy in the way standard setting organisations operate and such hurdles can slow down the pace of change in very dynamic and fast-moving markets such as the IT sector. On the other hand, rankings may serve as a short cut for businesses who work with SSOs and thus save them time in getting to the right information for their needs. Whatever happens, the priority for SSOs surely needs to be making sure that their work helps to serve the process of innovation and competition in standards and not to hinder it?
