Standards and innovation

Using standardisation from the early stages of developing new technologies is a key strategy to optimising their implementation, avoiding duplicities and inconsistencies, and identifying what common elements are necessary to progress, what needs additional research and what must be kept as part of each organisation's know-how. 

The interplay between standardization and protection of intellectual property must be extracted to the maximum in order to increase the dissemination and use of new developments, which in turn lays the groundwork for future innovations.

This is how sectors such as artificial intelligence, shared electronic registry technologies, blockchain, biotechnology, forensic technologies, advanced manufacture, 3D printing, etc., have understood it.

UNE, together with European and international organizations, maintains a proactive approach by identifying new topics and sectors that can benefit from standardization, for example, through the development of Foresight Studies. To achieve this, we engage with key stakeholders and propose new areas of work, comparing them with the ideas and proposals from industry, services, and research to help address their needs.

Increasing competences and performance levels of companies and organisations is effectively encouraged by the use of innovation management standards like UNE 166000 and ISO 56000. They help in various areas: to raise awareness on and add value to innovative features of a company's activity that are sometimes not identified as such; to systematise activities improving their efficiency; to understand market needs as drivers for innovation; to increase and optimise collaboration in order to generate value; and to promote the protection and exploitation of their intangible assets. In short, they allow companies and organisations to boost their competitiveness and sustainability in the medium to long term.