Global International Digital Cooperation on standards and related policy

Project Information

InDiCo-Global

Grant agreement ID: 101136022

DOI

10.3030/101136022

EC signature date 17 November 2023

Start date 1 January 2024

End date 31 December 2026

Funded under

• Digital, Industry and Space

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 2 490 345,63

Coordinated by

INSTITUT EUROPEEN DES NORMES DE TELECOMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION
France

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - InDiCo-Global (Global International Digital Cooperation on standards and related policy)

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Building on the foundation laid by the former EU-funded InDiCo project, InDiCo-Global responds to the evolving priorities of the EU. The project intends to leverage the EU Standardization Strategy to promote EU values and reduce barriers for trade on key technologies.
The core objective of InDiCo-Global is to foster alignment with EU’s digital standards and where possible policies and regulations across seven targeted geographies. Through a deep understanding of the policy, regulatory, and standardization environments in partner regions, the project intends to promote the European Standardisation System (ESS) and its relevance to ICT and digital technologies. Activities such as workshops with relevant actors (from formal bodies to open-source and disruptive innovation groups), capacity-building and visibility initiatives in key forums and stakeholder engagement bridge technical communities and policy makers enable mutual understanding and collaboration.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project's objectives were approached through the Consolidated Strategic Objectives.
Main achievements by region are as follows:
African Union (SOAU)
• AFSEC ESS Workshop where AFSEC members agreed on a focused agenda and demonstrated readiness for collaborative technical work, with several European National Committees expressing interest in direct engagement.
• Research and awareness on e-Accessibility /African NSBs(e.g. EN 301 549).
• Open Call 1 (OC1): Digital Identity Wallets, IoT interoperability and AI Policy Development, Use of AI Systems/OHADA Regions
China (SOCN): OC 1 project on Geopolitics of Semiconductor Standards
India (SOLAC) : OC 1 project on AI Governance in India, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Partnership Region
Latin America & the Caribbean (SOLAC:
• 45th CROSQ Council & InDiCo-Global ESS Workshop on cooperation of Caribbean and European Standardization resulted in preparatory work for a roadmap for cooperation between CROSQ and ESOs and considerations for a new partnership with ETSI.
• Open Call 1 projects: Open Data/Mexico, Digital Government/Guatemala, emerging ICT standards/Chile,Presentation of ETSI’s work on software and standards at Open Telco Cloud Summit in Mexico (200+ participants from 14 LAC countries)
OC 1 Projects on Data Protection and Privacy (SODP): EU Climate Fintech, AI ethics and GDPR/Bolivia.

Out of the 1M€ pledged for FSTP, the project already distributed ~500k€ through OC1, with the remainder being kept for OC2 and OC3.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

In this first reporting period, the project’sachievements and results have following impacts:
These activities’ impacts are twofold:
1. Societal: Activities run in this period include contribution of SSH experts and institutions. International cooperation meetings and workshops on one hand and policy-oriented FSTP projects on the other hand directly contributed to the promotion of the EU model for setting global interoperable ICT/digital standards in selected targeted countries and as a consequence, served European citizens and digital technologies end-users globally by providing with more opportunities for the development of interoperable technologies and model/practices aligned with EU’s approach.
2. Economical: SESEI and the formerInDiCo project have been instrumental in adoption of several standards in India and InDiCo-Global works towards achieving similar results in synergy with SESEI, especially on the topic of Digital Signature, where a series of 42 ETSI standards is about to be adopted. This creates a larger market that can be addressed through compliance of common standards, lowering barriers to market access for industry both in Europe and in the regions adoption the standards, in addition to fostering interoperability, creating economies of scale and reducing fragmentation. Activities have been carried out in 3 geographic regions and upcoming workshops planned between September and November 2025 scheduled in 3 new regions,ensuring a wide geographic impact.

For the workshops, CROSQ and AFSEC were chosen for their role as a regional standardization player, allowing InDiCo-Global to reach a broad community of SDOs in the CARICOM and African Union regions, respectively.
Webinars have also been delivered to discuss key European initiatives and highlight InDiCo-Global and its work to build bridges.
By enabling specialists to conduct projects aligned with InDiCo-Global objectives in targeted partner countries and regions, the 11 FSTP projects are creating opportunities for capacity building as well as strengthening and promoting Europe’s position and vision in global standardisation initiatives.

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