Following the Commission Recommendation for a common European approach to the security of 5G networks, 24 EU Member States have now completed the first step and submitted national risk assessments. These assessments will feed into the next phase, a EU-wide risk assessment which will be completed by 1 October.

National risk assessments include an overview of:

• the main threats and actors affecting 5G networks;
• the degree of sensitivity of 5G network components and functions as well as other assets; and
• various types of vulnerabilities, including both technical ones and other types of vulnerabilities, such as those potentially arising from the 5G supply chain.

In addition, the work on national risk assessments involved a range of responsible actors in the Member States, including cybersecurity and telecommunication authorities and security and intelligence services, strengthening their cooperation and coordination.

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 the 1st of October the European Cybersecurity Month was launched in all Member States to raise awareness about cybersecurity threats as well as promote cybersecurity among citizens and organisations through education and sharing of good practices. This year, in particular, the European Cybersecurity Month will focus on raising awareness about the good cybersecurity practices that should be a part of everyone’s daily routine, and the importance of ensuring that technology devices are secure.

The campaign activities are coordinated by the EU Agency for Cybersecurity and the Commission, and are strongly supported by the EU Member States. They focus on two priorities: first, on the daily routines, checks and general behaviour required to stay safe online and, second, on how to remain technologically-savvy and safe with rapidly evolving technologies. The overall goal is to ensure that citizens are aware of online risks and have the tools to become more resilient and confident users.

Following the Commission Recommendation for a common European approach to the security of 5G networks, 24 EU Member States have now completed the first step and submitted national risk assessments. These assessments will feed into the next phase, a EU-wide risk assessment which will be completed by 1 October.

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.

The ETSI's SmartM2M Technical Committee announced the releasae of three new specifications for the Smart cities, Industry and Manufacturing, and Smart agriculture and Food chain domains.. This is in addition to the first three SAREF (Smart Applications REFerence ontology) specifications for energy, environment and buildings. These standards enable interoperability and therefore contribute to the development of the global digital market.

European Commission conducted a survey when it launched the SMART 2013/0077 Standardization Initiative on smart appliances. The outcome was to create commonly agreed semantics for smart appliances and build a reference ontology as an interoperability language, and, with the help of TC smartM2M and oneM2M, these standards are now a reality.

Acknowledging the role of standards, especially in the context of emerging technologies and technologies of the future and the need to collaborate and work in partnership with different types of organizations around the world, COAI, the apex industry association representing leading Telecom, Internet, Technology and Digital Services companies and ETSI, a leading standardization organization for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) standards fulfilling European and global market needs announced to come together once again to work and collaborate on areas of mutual interest.

As part of this collaboration, Seconded European Standardization Expert (SESEI) local representative of ETSI will be working closely with COAI through this MoU to strengthen their relationship and foster a closer co-operation on common agenda items between them and promote ETSI-India cooperation on standards related issues.

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.

The European Commission has announced the launch of "OPENQKD" a pilot project that will install a test quantum communication infrastructure in several European countries, was launched. It will boost the security of critical applications in the fields of telecommunications, health care, electricity supply and government services.

The project OPENQKD will aim to bring about a change in the way we see, understand and use quantum communication. Its main focus is to create and test a communication network infrastructure with a built-in quantum element, using Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), a ultra-secure form of encryption that allows data to be transmitted with a very high level of security.

The updated Horizon 2020 Work Programme provides €47 million to kick-start the large-scale research initiative on future battery technologies previously announced in the Commission Strategic Action Plan for Batteries.

At the dawn of a new, connected and green era — represented by autonomous vehicles, smart cities, smart grids based on renewable energy sources, drone aircraft and robotic devices — reliable and safe batteries with ultra-high performance are becoming essential.

The Cross Cutting part of the Horizon 2020 Work Programme adopted by the European Commission on 2 July allocates €42 million to kick-start a large-scale research initiative on future battery technologies.