The Spanish Association for Standardization, UNE, collaborated on the development of the Code of Practices that the European Commission has published on standardization for researchers and innovators, contributing its experience in more than a hundred Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects that included standardization activities. This code includes a series of recommendations that can be used when they design their projects, including those financed with public funds, such as Horizon Europe.
The European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, summarized the goal of the Recommendations 2023/498 published by the EU on 1 March. She stated that "standards close the gap between research and market acceptance. Together with stakeholders, we have developed the Code of Practice to ensure that the results of research and innovation create marketable solutions that respond to the challenges of society".
These recommendations include considering tangible standardization activities in projects alongside their objectives and resources, collaborating and involving national standardization bodies when necessary, establishing indicators, integrating standardization and intellectual property strategies, and other considerations.
However, there is still much more to be done in terms of awareness, recognition and policies, which is why there are also recommendations for universities and research and innovation centres on the creation of standardization strategies, indicators, professional career recognition systems, training, and more; and for national governments in terms of promoting standardization as a means of improving knowledge.
To promote the launch of the code and these strategic recommendations, the European Union will implement a promotional campaign in collaboration with the national governments concerned and other actors, including standardization bodies. UNE will also actively disseminate them among researchers and innovators, and will help government agencies, universities and research and innovation centres implement the recommendations aimed at them.
In Spain, the UNE is the legally designated body to develop and disseminate technical rules or standards, and as such it is the national member of European (CEN, CENELEC and ETSI) and international (ISO and IEC) bodies, managing more than 960 Technical Standardization Committees in which more than 13,000 Spanish experts participate. It is also the source of information in Spain on these topics.
