Road traffic accidents are an unfortunate consequence of road transport. In an ever more digitalised and connected society, ITS supports road safety through automated and real-time communication between vehicles and emergency services. Known as 112-eCall, this communication is already saving lives. eCall puts the occupants of the vehicle in direct communication with the emergency services and automatically provides the location of the accident, the vehicle involved, the numbers of passengers in a vehicle at the time of impact, and other key data, which enables the prompt and most appropriate emergency response. Understanding the content of a vehicle can help the emergency services send appropriate resources and minimise risks and disruption for road users. The benefits of this technology are widely acknowledged, but they can only be ensured by proper standardization. The relevant public and private actors have been working together and the development of appropriate CEN standards has already enabled the mandatory equipping of all new models of cars and light vans. Furthermore, eCall standards specifications are now also available for every other category of vehicle, enabling these to be implemented on a voluntary basis, or on mandated use where regulators deem this appropriate in order to reduce deaths and injuries.
Co-existence with third party assistance providers is also enabled through CEN standardization. This challenging topic will truly improve the survivability of all European road users, should they unfortunately be involved in a road traffic accident/emergency. To know more about eCall standardization, you can read the leaflet CEN and CENELEC recently published at this link.

The Agreement aims at facilitating the collaboration between CEN and CENELEC, two of the officially recognised European Standardization Organizations, and E.DSO, the interface between Europe’s Distribution System Operators (DSOs) and the European institutions. The objective is to ensure an appropriate exchange of knowledge as well as high quality and consensus-based support in the delivery of standards for the large-scale development of smart grid technologies.

The new Partnership Agreement is a step forward in this direction: through the Agreement, E.DSO will provide CEN and CENELEC with their technical and strategic expertise in the field of smart grids and energy distribution and bring a welcome industrial perspective to the work of standardization. Furthermore, the exchanges between the three organizations will bring lasting benefits to other related areas of ongoing work, such as ICT, cybersecurity, digitalization of the energy sector and e-Vehicles.

In a world where mobility is a cornerstone of global trade, work, tourism and leisure activities, providing efficient and safe transport infrastructure is a challenge. Connecting efficiently dense and complex cities or remotes regions requires a constant capacity of integrating new technologies. At the side of traditional game players, new actors of mobility emerge, sometimes with disruptive impact. CEN and CENELEC are engaged in facilitating the harmonized deployment of both traditional and innovative transport technologies, by improving compatibility, connectivity and sustainability.
In this context, CEN and CENELEC are proud to announce the launch of a new Joint Technical Committee, CEN/CLC/JTC 20, dedicated to hyperloop systems standardization. Hyperloop is a ground-based high-speed transportation system for passengers, living and/or non-living stock, in which vehicles are suspended through contactless means and travel inside a sealed, confined reduced pressure environment. With potential benefits on safety, time-saving, greenhouses gases emissions reduction, and economic value, this technology begins progressively to be on the spotlight.
As several European and International industries are investing in hyperloop systems with the interest of both private and public actors, European standardization is crucial to achieve a coherent roll-out of this new tool of mobility. Thanks to their extensive experience in transport standardization, CEN and CENELEC have recently been devoted to play a major role in the development of future hyperloop standards.

In a global economy increasingly based on knowledge, it is fundamental to be able to drive change and innovate. Standards contribute to the success of new technology: they support each stage of the innovation process and ensure the fast access of innovative products and technologies to the market. With this belief, one of CEN and CENELEC’s priorities is to improve the relation between the research and innovation (R&I) community and standardization, to increase the possibility of synergies and foster collaboration across the board. This is the objective of the BRIDGIT II project, as the recent European Conference ‘Boosting Innovation through Standards’, which on 13 November 2019 put together the standardization and the research worlds, has shown.

As part of the project, the new website standardsplusinnovation.eu has just been released. The website will serve as the main entry point for researchers and innovators to the world of standardization. Together with providing information on how standards can help innovation and research throughout its different development paths, from funding to market access, the website also presents some inspiring success stories of researchers and innovators.
To announce the launch of the Standards+Innovation website, CEN, CENELEC and the other project partners are launching an online communication campaign that in the coming weeks will showcase the benefit of standards.