Let us focus on the issue within the topic “Twelve projects for the 2012 Single Market” of European services standards as distinct from the impact of the effectiveness, efficiency and inclusiveness of the European standards system on that question.

While of course to separate these issues removes the very interesting political and philosophical debate whether it is wise or not to revise the European standardisation system to extend it to services based upon the performance of the European standards system to deliver relevant services standards to the market. My rationale is that the best predictor of future performance is past performance. Those who believe that the European standards model largely oriented to products has performed well in the past will see benefits to its extension to services in the future. And those who believe other standards models have better served markets in the past will reach negative conclusions.
Read More…

Chinaʼs interest in developing and implementing a national standards strategy continues to attract widespread international attention. The strategy has been incorporated into the web of policies in support of Chinaʼs ambitious 15 year Medium to Long-term Plan (MLP) for scientific and technological development intended to make China an “innovative society” by the year 2020. As such, the standard strategy can be viewed as an instrument of industrial policy, now widely referred to as Chinaʼs “indigenous innovation” program, the implementation of which is perceived by the companies and governments of the OECD world as a threat to international norms of standardization.

Read More…

In an exclusive interview with Talkstandards, Professor David Ingram of openEHR, one of the most innovative players in the eHealth field, outlines some of his expectations for the future of ICT in the health care sector. This transcript has been prepared from notes taken during a telephone interview on February 22nd.

Part II: eHealth in an international perspective
Read More…