The head of the R&D Unit of the Spanish Association for Standardization, UNE, Fernando Utrilla, has been appointed president of the new Advisory Committee on Research and Innovation of CEN and CENELEC, the European standards bodies. This appointment recognizes UNE’s work in research, development, and innovation, and strengthens the international and European leadership of Spanish standardization.
This European body is part of the Boards of the two European standardization organizations, within the area of Policy and Strategy. The Committee’s functions include coordinating actions and promoting the importance and use of standardization in R&D, both externally—to European institutions, research and innovation organizations, and industry—and internally, at the level of the national European standardization bodies.
Fernando’s appointment is a clear recognition of UNE’s role in this field for more than a decade, both for its intensive activity in R&D projects, where it is a European leader, and for its ongoing contributions and participation in position papers, policy consultations, institutional events, and other European activities, advocating the crucial role of the standardization system in leveraging innovation to enhance the competitiveness, sustainability, and resilience of Europe.
All this work at the European level is also carried out nationally and internally within UNE. Fernando coordinates UNE’s Innovation Committee (CINNO), which oversees internal innovation efforts, such as the UNE Foresight Studies, designed to drive innovation and international leadership in Spanish sectors with the support of new standardization activities from the early stages of technology development.
