Takayanagi outlines vision for future

IEC President-elect Sei-Ichi "Saychi" Takayanagi became President-elect of he IEC during the General Meeting in Stockholm in 2000 and began his three-year term as IEC President on 1 January 2002. He points to the importance of continuing to put Masterplan 2000 into action and also emphasizes four areas of work that the IEC will need to address in the coming years: consumers, egions, WSC and electronic tools.

Consumers
Takayanagi says that consumer associations are gaining more and more nfluence in global trade. "The consumer is the real end-user of IEC standards. Since that is the case, we need to encourage associations that represent the consumer to be active in IEC work." Takayanagi expects that consumer associations should become active at the priority-setting level for standardization, and envisions them as being active in Sector Boards.

Regions
The new President says the IEC must focus on Asia, Latin America and Africa to get countries there more involved in IEC work, as well as to attract new members. He points out that industrializing countries use less electricity and electronics than fully industrialized ones, but that as they develop, they will ultimately use more electronics. Therefore, their input will be valuable to establish future directions for IEC standardization.

World Standards Cooperation (WSC)
In the field of information and communication technologies, he recognizes a good example of where the IEC, ISO and the ITU will ultimately collaborate very closely. The WSC is scheduled for launch this spring for this purpose. Takayanagi says the IEC should encourage WSC activities to fulfil industry’s wishes and expectations all over the world.

Electronic tools
Takayanagi points out that electronic tools will become very valuable in advance of meetings. At present, he says, IEC TC and SC meetings are often conducted in English. Those people whose mother tongue is not English can have trouble contributing to the discussion. Therefore, he says, an electronic bulletin board or discussion forum will give these people a chance to contribute their ideas at their own speed prior to a meeting.

Takayanagi is Technology Adviser for Toshiba Corporation in Japan.