IEC - E-TECH > Jan-Feb 2010

100 ways... Publication issued by the Belgian
National Committee of the IEC
for their centenary celebration

“The question is not what
you gain from standardization,
it's what you lose without it.”

Frans Vreeswijk Intellectual property
and standards, Philips
President Dutch NC of the IEC
Member of IEC Council Board

“Invest in innovation,
not variation.”

Standardized hardware cuts the
cost of software development

“Talk to the world.”

Technical committees are a
national and international platform.
Every member of a BEC-chaired
national technical committee is
eligible to become the representative
of the Belgian position on the
European and even the global level.
Active participation in a
technical committee is de facto
a networking opportunity among
global peers

“Open and develop
new markets.”

Developing standards means
entering and developing new markets

“Don't waste time
to market.”

Applying standards limits your
risk of excess inventory and
shortens the time-to-market of
your newest products

“Standardize testing.”

1 standard, 1 test, 1 certificate

“Measure your
green commitment.”

Standards make your green
commitment measurable

“DIY!”

Around the world, governments are
happy to leave the laborious but
vital task of creating new
electrotechnical standards to the
industry and keep legislation
free of variable technical specifications

“More and more customers
insist on standard conformity
in their contracts.”

Luc Jonckheere,
Televic

The House of the Future was the perfect setting for the IEC BEC (Belgian Electrotechnical Committee) centenary celebration, Free the future. "Standardization is all about innovation and preparing the future for all of us, but especially for our children. And it's about progress too," said Geert De Vos, Marketing and Communication Manager of the BEC and one of the people responsible for organizing the event. And, although the birth of the Belgian NC (National Committee) took place in Brussels in March 1909, Belgium was also one of the original founding members of the IEC in 1906.

"Standardization isn't done in a back room", emphasised De Vos. "It's all about competition and economics. The benefits of standardization need to be understood by the population. That's what BEC is doing in Belgium. We're involving the CEOs, CFOs and CMOs of all our main national SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises). They're not the engineers writing the binary code but they are the ones who take the decision to appoint the people who are going to join the standardization bandwagon."

"It's incredible what you have to pay nowadays to know what your competition is doing and how they're doing it. Of course you can study the market reports but if you're part of the standards process you know exactly what is going on. You know what the debate is because you're a part of it. You're setting the future. Essentially, if you know the standards, you're running with the facts".

Paul Depuydt, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent Bell and President of Agoria, was the first to take the floor, giving the keynote speech. He compared standardization to jazz. "It's about melody", said the CEO. "It's about a progression of chords which is a standard. So, even if the theme goes faster or slower, there's something else mixed in with it. Magic comes out of the standard that the musicians improvise to play together. The standard brings something new. That's innovation," said Depuydt.

Here's a business man held much in esteem by his compatriots as a visionary, talking about the importance of standardization for innovation. "Innovation is not only about technology, it's business. When you make a joint venture between a producer of coffee and a key electronic appliances manufacturer you get branded innovation with a whole new way of making and drinking coffee." He went on to give the example of a world leading MP3 player. "There's nothing special about it. It's a hard disk and it doesn't provide the best sound. But, by producing an innovative way of transferring the music to the device, the world changed. It's the detail to the business that makes the difference. "Look at A," and he named the well known company that designed the MP3 player. " They don't try to be the most successful interface. They do a minimum of standardization and let the market innovate and develop itself."

He pointed out the difference between standards and legislation. "Regulation will be about safety, energy use, pollution. It will be imposed by law. Reality goes much faster than legislation. But, while it's needed, we have to make sure that it's minimized so that we don't curb innovation. Innovation is present on the Internet. It's moving society and changing business. But standardization hasn't curbed the innovation that's there ".

The centenary event was attended by all those who deal with standardization in Belgium including those from the government run NBN Belgian Standards Bureau that deals with non electrotechnical matters. Other participants included representatives from consumer associations, small and medium enterprises, large enterprises, distribution channels, academia and the retail market. There were a number of international visitors including Elena Santiago, Director General of CENELEC (the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization), Daniel Dobbeni, the Chief Executive Officer of Elia, responsible for high voltage transport system in Belgium, Geert Segers, Business Development Manager at CG, formerly known as Pauwels Trafo, that manufacture distribution and power transformers of electricity, substations and switchgear, and the IEC Marketing and Communication Director, Jonathan Buck from Central Office in Switzerland.

For the occasion, Paul Romanus, the Secretary of BEC, and De Vos, produced an original-sized 14x14 cm (5"x5") book entitled "100 ways...to benefit from standardization" It provides another source of awareness of the advantages of standardization. It's an attractive way to convince people who haven't yet become involved in standardization of some of the major arguments.

The booklet takes the form of an illustrated quotes library. "There are 100 different statements – one for each year of our existence," said De Vos, "about the benefits of standardization. Well actually, there are 101". The most important one figures on the rear cover. It comes from Frans Vreeswijk, who is responsible for intellectual property and standardization at Philips. He is also President of the Dutch IEC NC. Philips takes standardization very seriously. For every new product produced they carry out a calculation to see how much it would cost for them not to follow standardization. What would be the loss? That's how they look at it," underlines De Vos.

The book is organized into six sections. One is cost efficiency. "Due to the recession, that's a buzz word at present", clarifies De Vos, "with all the financial challenges companies have, the CFO is a major influence at present." Another is innovation. "Innovation is about becoming prosperous. That's not so much about gaining money, but about giving people the extras they deserve." A further section deals with market development. The section on sales and marketing reflects how much easier it is to sell products when they are manufactured according to specific standards. "Sustainability is a subject that's very much in the limelight at present, as is renewable energies", adds De Vos. "What would happen if I bought an electric car at home and wanted to go skiing with it in Switzerland? I'd want to know I could charge it up there in order to get home again." There are sections devoted to both subjects, with a sixth on self-regulation. "That's an important one", adds De Vos, "because you do that a lot better than someone else based in Brussels". [Brussels is the home of the European Parliament and therefore the centre for much of the European Community rules and regulations]. "Self regulation is important in industry where people really know what they're talking about. It's better to develop your own regulation and then get Brussels to adopt it. That allows you carry out proper research based on consensus with other experts in industry."

In all there are 90 quotes and 10 testimonials with, of course, the additional quotation from Vreeswijk on the back cover. De Vos concludes "The six sections really all boil down to the subject of money. Even sustainability is economically driven because we're permanently in need of more efficient systems."

There is a link to a watermarked version of the brochure attached to this article. Should anyone be interested in reproducing either the book or portions of it, they should contact to Geert De Vos, who is most willing to provide high resolution files.

Belgium centenary event – 100 ways to benefit from standardization

House of the future