Curriculum Vitae

Chartered Engineer, and Master of Science, born in 1954 in Liege (Belgium), Andre Pirlet has worked mainly in laboratory measurements and the use of mathematical models in applied thermodynamics and geophysics, before contributing to European harmonisation. He enjoys working at CEN (European Committee for Standardisation) in a multilingual environment since 1991; he is active in the fields of natural gas (both gas appliances and gas supply), metrology (including Legal Metrology) and STAR. 'STAR' (for 'Standardisation and Research') is an horizontal activity aimed at reinforcing the links and the cooperation between the researchers and the standardisers.

As Secretary of CEN/STAR, Mr Pirlet looks forward to providing you with more information about STAR aims and activities.

Exploitation of results of European research through CEN/ISO standardisation.

Poster (Parallel Session C)

Standardisation and R&D are interdependent. The technology necessary for the development of a new standard may be created by a specific research project or may arise as a spin-off from research that was not directly concerned with the elaboration of a standard. On the other hand, research leading to the development of new products or processes generally benefits from early knowledge of relevant standards and the subsequent value and marketability of the new product may be enhanced by ensuring that it conforms to the appropriate standard.

CEN is the European Committee for Standardization, which is the association of national standards bodies of the EU, the Czech Republic and EFTA (plus Affiliates, Associated Members and Associated Bodies). CEN can handle all standards except those in the areas of electrotechnology (CENELEC) and telecommunications (ETSI).

The main reason for the creation in 1992, by the CEN Technical Board, of the CEN forum 'STAR' was the feeling that there were insufficient cross-communication and co-operation between the Researchers and the Standardisers.

In order to increase the chances of developing standards (in particular European or ISO Standards) at the right time, a new approach must be applied. One of the possibilities is offered by the Research Programmes managed by the EC. During the evaluation stage of research proposals, and together with other forms, the external experts mandated by the EC would check the impact on standardisation.

CEN/STAR is indeed of the opinion that one of the most appropriate tool to make researchers more aware of European standardisation activities corresponds to the 'evaluation and negotiating' stage with the coordinators of EU Research projects, co-financed by the EC. In addition to the awareness of the researchers on current standardisation activities, this offers the chance to exploit in due time the results of the research by amending existing standards or starting new standardisation activities.

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