ETSI’s industry specification group for Network Function Virtualisation (ETSI NFV) has enhanced the system as well as designed new features to support 5G networks. ETSI NFV has added 5G resource management and orchestration aspects on top of the NFV Release 2 architecture framework.

New NFV Release 3 features that closely relate to 5G include Support for network slicing in NFV, Management over multi-administrative domains, and Multi-site network connectivity. These features are essential to address the variety of applications expected to run on top of a 5G system, whether using distributed resources over multiple sites, centralized or a combination of both.

ETSI and 3GPP have collaborated on specification work for ETSI NFV Release 2 and 3, to ensure interoperability between management systems, covering upper orchestration and management layers, such as network management or application management.

Newly published CEN Guide 17 ‘Safety of pressure equipment - Rules and recommendations for the drafting and presentation of safety standards’ gives some guidelines on how to develop safety standards for pressure equipment. In particular, it provides clear recommendations on the criteria for the selection of new work items and for procedures to prepare, produce or revise standards in an efficient and effective way, focussing on safety aspects of pressure equipment. Standards developed following the new Guide contribute to preventing accidents and reducing waste. They also enable manufacturers and suppliers to market and sell equipment to customers throughout Europe and around the world.

In the scope of this deliverable, pressure equipment covers a wide range of products from consumer products such as pressure cookers and portable fire extinguishers, through to major industrial applications such as reactors, columns, boilers, steam generators, heat exchangers, industrial piping and safety device for the power generation, food, chemical, pharmaceutical, oil and gas sectors.

On 20th June, as part of the European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW), CEN and CENELEC, together with the Coolproducts campaign, organised a special event dedicated to the role of European Standardization in supporting Ecodesign and Energy Labelling policies. “Ecodesign and Energy Labels: setting standards for consumers” took place at the European Commission Charlemagne building in Brussels as part of the Policy Conference of the European Sustainable Energy Week 2019 (EUSEW 2019).

Ecodesign and Energy Labelling policies supported by European Standards are key to concretely develop the transition to a circular economy while putting the consumer at the centre of a strong product policy. For this reason, the event was an opportunity for a wide array of speakers from the standardization community, consumer organisations, the industry and EU institutions to get together to discuss the role of Ecodesign, Energy Labelling and the underpinning standards with regards to the challenges that this transition poses.

Following recent developments in Artificial Intelligence and the challenges identified by the EU Commission creating a need for standardization, the CEN-CENELEC/BTWG 6 “ICT Standardization policy” has proposed the creation of a Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence.

Challenges identified in the European Commission’s Communication ‘Artificial Intelligence for Europe’, COM(2018) 237, refer to the deployment, interoperability, scalability, societal acceptability/ concerns, safety and liability of AI, thus creating a need for standardization. The CEN-CENELEC Focus Group on AI is the starting point to support the identification of specific European Standardization needs. It will also address big data in order to mirror the standardization work at international level.

With a world-class community of scientists and a strong research infrastructure, Europe has an important potential in leading technological advancements on Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is therefore essential that the best research teams in Europe join forces to tackle major scientific and technological challenges, hampering the deployment of AI-based solutions.

The call articulates in two actions:

1. Research and Innovation Action to mobilise the best researchers into networks of excellence centres that will reach a critical mass on key AI topics.
2. Coordination and Support Action to foster exchange between the selected projects, and other relevant initiatives. 

These actions are expected to create synergies with the industrial sector and foster an ecosystem of R&D resources, expertise and infrastructure (in areas such as HPC, robotics equipment, IoT infrastructure). 

In the context of raising energy prices and growing attention to the environment, ensuring energy efficiency is more and more strategic for businesses and consumers, as well as for policy makers. For this reason, energy audits have a relevant role to play: they are an important tool for organizations to enhance their understanding of their current energy use and monitor it going forwards with the goal of reducing energy consumption.

To guide organizations through their energy audits, CEN has developed EN 16247-1 ‘Energy Audits’, with important contributions from influential energy experts including members of the Energy Institute, Institute of Chemical Engineers, and Energy Services and Technology Association, ESTA.