CEN and CENELEC’S Technical Body Awards recognised outstanding contributions to Standardization

The Technical Body Awards are a biennial event acknowledging outstanding contributions of experts to the work of European standardization. An average of 1600 European Standards are added every year to the catalogue of CEN and CENELEC, two of the officially recognised European Standardization Organizations, thanks to the hard work of around 90.000 experts coming from all around Europe. By sharing their expertise with peers across Europe in a variety of Technical Committees (TCs), they shape the standards that improve the lives of millions of citizens, as well as contribute to strengthening the European economy.

This awards ceremony celebrates the important contribution of CEN and CENELEC experts to European standards and pays tribute to a selection of Technical Body Chairs and Secretaries. The awardees have fostered standardization advances in their specific sector of expertise, building consensus among the experts, unblocking difficult situations and increasing the efficiency of the standardization system.

During the ceremony, on behalf of CEN, President-Elect Stefano CALZOLARI presented the Awards to the following six experts and a lifetime achievement:

• Mr Christian WETTERBERG, Chair of CEN/TC 52 Safety of Toys
• Mr Ulrich BORCHERS, Chair of CEN/TC 230 ‘Water Analysis'
• Mr Steve DENTON, Chair of CEN/TC 250 ‘Structural Eurocodes’
• Mr Georg SCHREIBER, Chair of CEN/TC 275 ‘Food analysis – horizontal methods’ and of CEN/TC 460 ‘Food authenticity’
• Mr Frank LAMÉ, Chair of CEN/TC 444 ‘Environmental characterization of solid matrices'
• Ms Lisbet LANDFALD, Secretary of CEN/TC 442 ‘Building Information Modelling’
• Mr Ortwin COSTENOBLE, Secretary of CEN TC/19 ‘Gaseous and liquid fuels, lubricants and related products of petroleum, synthetic and biological origin’, of CEN/TC 383 ‘Sustainably produced biomass for energy applications’ and of CEN/TC 441 ‘Fuel labelling’, who won the Lifetime Achievement Award.

On behalf of CENELEC, President-Elect Wolfgang NIEDZIELLA presented the Awards to the following six experts :

• Mr Eike FRIEDRICHS, Chair of CLC/TC 34 ‘Lighting’
• Mr Jacques PERONNET, Chair of CLC/TC 64 ‘LV Electrical installations and protection against electric shock’
• Mr Christian DWORAK, Chair of CLC/TC 111X ‘Environment’
• Ms Beatriz NOVEL, Chair of CLC/TC 205 ‘Home and building electronic systems and of CLC/TC 23E ‘Circuit breakers and similar devices for household and similar use’
• Mr Jörg ENDISCH, Chair of CEN-CLC/JTC 17 ‘Gas appliances with combined heat and power’
• Mr Luca REINA, Secretary of CLC/TC 61 ‘Safety of household and similar electrical appliances’.

Furthermore during the ceremony the winner of the third edition of the Standards + Innovation award for Technical Body Officers was also announced.

The award went to Sandra FELICIANO, a lecturer at Porto Polytechnic and a researcher at the Knowledge Innovation Centre, for building bridges between the worlds of academia and standardization for over a decade.

CEN President-Elect Stefano Calzolari commented, in presenting the awards: “Each one of the awardees is a successful example of the best values of the European Standardization System: its inclusiveness, transparency and consensus-based approach; its ability to find solution through patience, skills and knowledge. These are very important values, which will guide us in the future: they animate and power CEN and CENELEC’s Strategy 2030, which sets the path for the evolution of our system in order to contribute to a sustainable, competitive and resilient Europe”.

CENELEC President-Elect Wolfgang Niedziella added: “The electrotechnical standardization community has a big role to play in determining Europe’s future: new technologies have always needed standards. Since the invention of electricity, standardization has always provided the necessary framework for safety, functionality, and market deployment. Thanks to the example of today’s awardees, we can be sure that we will be able to provide decisive support to the EU’s digital transition for the years to come”.

The full recording of the ceremony is available here.