ICT Standardisation Observatory and Support Facility in Europe

Project Information

StandICT.eu 2023

Grant agreement ID: 951972

DOI

10.3030/951972

Project closed

EC signature date 11 June 2020

Start date 1 September 2020

End date 31 August 2023

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Total cost

€ 4 000 000,00

EU contribution

€ 4 000 000,00

Coordinated by

TRUST-IT SERVICES SRL
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - StandICT.eu 2023 (ICT Standardisation Observatory and Support Facility in Europe)

Reporting period: 2022-03-01 to 2023-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

StandICT.eu 2023’s 36-month ambitious and rigorous workplan, has a central goal to ensure that a neutral, reputable, pragmatic and fair approach as part of a workplan is implemented to support EU and associated states presence in the international ICT Standardisation scene.
Building the human European network of ICT Standard Experts has been crucial in making the difference in guaranteeing StandICT.eu 2023 an already solid base of diligent and active standards contributors and solid network of key-players in the ICT Standardisation landscape. StandICT.eu 2023 responds to supporting the annual work programme for EU standardisation for 20202 by enabling European contributions, through the open calls and allowing contributions to the Standardisation Observatory to implement a well-functioning standardisation system that can help Europe to safeguard its advantage as first mover and to keep pace with changes and opportunities created by market developments.
The project aims at achieveing five key-objectives:

1 -Deliver a comprehensive ICT Standards Observatory (calledEUOS), with critical mass volumes of updates and relevant, to become the central reference of the current and future generation of European ICT Standardisation Experts.
2- Delivery of a seamless Management Facility (grants platform), to effectively manage and launch the StandICT.eu Fellowship Programme, to be rolled-out through 10 Open Calls for proposals, funding € 3,000,000 to support European excellence in ICT Standardisation.
3 - Establish a solid and continuous synergy and liaison with a multiplicity of Pan-European organisations with the objective to facilitate the injection of the right standards outcomes into SDO WGs & TCs from EC- and National-funded research.
4 -To become the reference point for engagement in ICT standardisation activities, for both industry (particularly, SMEs) and academia, also through education initiatives, support building the next generation European Standardisation Experts through Education initiatives for the future generation of ICT standardisation experts and a flourishing community of experts.
5 - To build up a robust Ecosystem in order to ensure maximum impact and sustainability of the StandICT.eu activities.

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 main attained results are staggered according the five objectives, as outlined in the previous chapter.

Objective 1 - MAPPING/OBSERVATORY

• Set-up of the EUOS Observatory with dedicated discussion group area and repository of standards (+1940 updated Standards, inclusive of the list provided by each TWG as result of their mapping activity).
• Management of 11 Technical Working Groups gathering experts in critical ICT domains (Blockchain/Cybersecurity/IoT & Edge/AI/Smart Cities/Trusted Information/Data Interoperability/Digital Twin/Ontologies).
• EUOS Foresight Committee - Board of hand-picked renowned experts to discuss high-profile ICT Standardisation needs and challenges.
• Release of 3 “Landscape of Standards” reports under the AI/Smart Cities & Trusted Information domains (more in the pipeline).

Objective 2 - FACILITY

• Implementation of a fully functional Grants Platform with a solid UX to allow a seamless usage for applicants, evaluators and administrators.
• 5 Open Calls already closed with submission of very high-quality proposals (acceptance threshold of 7.9 out of 10), leading to 177 funded applications and tight correlation with the ICT Rolling Plan leading areas & sub-domains.
• Full flexibility in integrating each Call with new topics that have been given funding (Edge Computing, Ontologies, Agri-food, Open data Standards and Clean Planet).

Objective 3 - PAN-EUROPEAN COORDINATION

• Direct liaison with European and International SDOs, National Standards bodies, PPPs, SMEs organisations, Industry players, H2020/HE projects resulting in the signature of 15 Memorandum of Understanding (more info in the Technical Report).
• Open dialogue and cooperation with the European Commission Multi-Stakeholder Platform to adequately mirror EC’s key priorities, challenges and recommendations.

Objective 4 - COMMUNITY

• Building a community of 4000+ members (accounting for 1470 registered users, 2838 LinkedIn & 770 Twitter followers).
• Organisation of 7 StandICT.eu-led Virtual Events (“Walk & Talk” webinar series) gaining engagement of 500+ experts leading to new partnership opportunities.
• Participation in 19 third-party events with Industry, EC, Research, SMEs, SDOs & Standards initiatives players.
• EUOS Academy Working Group with the two-fold goal of showcasing the strategic importance of Standardisation for business & Europe’s competitiveness and the creation of training modules for beginners/intermediate/advanced users.

Objective 5 - ECOSYSTEM

• The concerted action carried out through the “Fellowship Programme”, the EUOS Observatory and Foresight Committee, and the support of the EAG is paving the way towards a more influential European Standardisation ecosystem that is already bringing EU’s standpoints and interests within international SDO’s and standards fora.
• Release of 2 Impact Reports “Following the Fellows” to effectively showcasing success stories of the funded experts outlining the addressed standards and domains and how these can impact related stakeholders and society.

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)

The StandICT.eu 2023 aims at bringing forward the crucial activity carried out by each of the EUOS Technical Working Groups to deliver contextualised "Landscape Analysis" in other ICT domains by addressing also the Polict perspective (gaps and challenges to be overcome under each areas). At the same time, the continuation of the Fellowship Programme (backed up by strategic events) will keep on supporting European ICT experts in playing influential roles within international SDOs to sustain the European presence and standpoints, but also to encourage them to participate in the development of bran new Standards (a solid trend of the first half of the project). Particular focus will be given to the "women empowerement" with a view to increase the number of women enrolled in the Fellowship Programme by providing them the necessary support and means to join SDOs and perform their Standardisation researches.

Hereunder some action points envisaged for the next 18 months of the initiative:

• Coherent Mapping of the results with some of the standardisation urgencies referenced in the recent EU Strategy on standardisation;
• Increase engagement of Women In ICT through events, campaigns and webinars;
• Strengthen linkage with Standards-driven initiatives like the Standards Booster “HSbooster.eu” & the CSA on HORIZON-CL4-2021-HUMAN-01-18 “Fostering standardisation to boost European industry’s competitiveness;
• Enhanced involvement of the “most trusted” fellows to contribute to the EUOS and possibility to allow them to upload updated standards in the EUOS Repository;
• Upgrade of the EUOS automation for a seamless upload of batches of new Standards;
• Augment promotion of Success Stories & Use Cases in new area on the website;
• Continued partnerships with R&I projects for tangible involvement in ICT Standardisation;
• Progress of the EUOS Academy of Standards with tailored educational section for newcomers, intermediate and advanced users;
• Liaison with the “Codes of Practice study” supported under DG RTD & other related initiatives.

Main Outcomes of StandICT.eu 2023 - M01/M18