Global event with 2 200 technology experts kicks off in Tokyo today

Geneva, Switzerland/ Toyko, Japan 2014-11-10 – Today, more than 2 200 global technology leaders and experts are coming together in Tokyo, Japan for a week-long meeting to focus on practical solutions to make the world safer, and more sustainable. They are participating in the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) 78th General Meeting organized by JISC, the IEC National Committee of Japan, which is part of METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry), under the theme “integration for a smarter world”.

This theme “integration for a smarter world” is in recognition of the need to increase the “smartness” of everything from grids, to cities, to transportation and manufacturing to improve energy efficiency and sustainability. Smart is often associated with information and communication technology, but the gathering and processing of data – so-called Big Data – is only part of the picture. The other part is the electrical and electronic devices and systems that enable this smartness. IEC work impacts all of them.

IEC General Secretary Frans Vreeswijk says: “Today, the speed of innovation has accelerated to a point where an individual company can no longer develop everything alone. Extreme competitiveness and close cooperation now go hand-in-hand. The IEC global platform hosts more than 15 000 technology experts from the world’s leading companies, governments, regulators, academia and small business to build some of the tools that help enable this broad cooperation. Applying internationally-agreed harmonized rules allow companies to participate in global value chains, which are now spread across many countries and continents.”

Stakeholders from every industrialized and most developed countries in the world actively support the IEC; some since its inception in 1906. By participating in IEC work, companies find it easier to innovate and spread new technologies globally. They are also better able to collaborate on increasingly complex systems with companies both in their country and outside. With 166 countries the IEC has truly global reach.  Japan and other countries that participate in the IEC use IEC International Standards as a strategic tool to grow their exports.  This approach helps them overcome hurdles to global trade, allowing companies to sell products to a large number of markets.

The importance that the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, is attributing to IEC work is illustrated by the fact that Dr Hiromishi Fujisawa, IEC Vice President and Corporate Chief Scientist in Hitachi’s R&D Group received the 2014 Prime Minister’s Award for Industrial Standardization, the highest recognition for outstanding contribution to industrial standardization.

While most large international companies already participate actively in the IEC, more SMEs need to join the ranks and influence International Standards and level the global playing field. Any company who doesn’t participate leaves it up to competition from elsewhere to write the technical rules for global trade that they will have to work with in the future.

According to Dr Junji Nomura, IEC President, “Participation in IEC work, not only increases the flexibility and corporate efficiency of international companies, it also facilitates technology innovation and helps build bigger markets, faster for many small companies. This in turn helps build national economies.”