The 37th meeting of the CEN and CENELEC Working Group of the Technical Boards on Standardization, Innovation and Research, also known as STAIR, took place on 11 December in Brussels.
The meeting followed the European Commission’s flagship event on knowledge valorisation, during which winners of the CEN-CENELEC Standards+Innovation awards were announced. The event gave impetus to discussions about the best ways to strengthen the links between standardization and research and innovation (R&I) among the participants.
STAIR meetings bring together CEN and CENELEC Members, their nominated stakeholders from industry, research institutes, and nominated national authorities, as well as representatives of different Commission Services and the ISO Central Secretariat.
Since 2009, STAIR has been the focal point for any matter related to integrating standardization with research and innovation. Following the governance review, the working group has been concluded and will be re-started in an improved format in 2025.
The main topics of discussion were Horizon Europe activities, the upcoming Framework Programme 10, recognition of researchers, and collaboration with other stakeholders. The final meeting closed with remarks of appreciation towards members who contributed to the work and the discussion. The VP Finance of CEN and CENELEC, Karl-Heinz Mayer, who is also the CEN-CENELEC Innovation Champion, shared his gratitude for the work and dedication of STAIR Chair Professor Knut Blind of TU Berlin and Fraunhofer University, who has chaired the group since its creation.
Both recognized the importance of continuing the efforts to integrate standards and R&I. Reflecting upon these effort, which have made a difference for the R&I and standardization community, Knut Blind thanked CEN and CENELEC by remarking that the “biggest gift is the automatized publication of bibliographies of homegrown European standards,” which will certainly have an impact on researchers’ career assessments.
The next meeting of a new Working Group in the field of R&I will take place in early 2025. We are looking forward to the continued engagement with all stakeholders.
