Project Description

The project has the overall goal of improving our understanding of the new ICT standardisation processes emerging in China, comparing them with EU standardisation processes in their global context, and discussing the implications with European and Chinese policymakers and stakeholders.
To pursue this we identify four specific objectives.
1. To build and strengthen the knowledge network of leading experts and research in the area of Chinese and European ICT standardisation.
2. To conduct strategic studies in three selected areas (chosen on the grounds of their stated importance to the FP7 IST Programme) of Chinese standardisation processes and their European and global counterparts.
3. To analyse these standardisation processes, focusing upon the issues they pose for innovation communities and policymakers in China.
4. To discuss the findings and their implications for industrial strategy and public policy in Europe and China, in collaboration with standardisation players/policymakers in these regions, and bring these to the attention of wider communities of policy, technology and industry players.
Discussions about ICT standards have centred around basic technologies, for example GSM and CDMA. This consortium is informed by an emerging analysis which suggests that the ICT domain has changed – its expansion and maturity have reached a level where a broader view is required. Accordingly we will approach the domain by applying this three level model .

Three level model for standards and innovation in ICT

The rationale behind this model is the development of ICT to follows a well-established pattern: early activity focuses on the basic technology, then as the technology matures the focus shifts towards the development of applications and services. As this happens the focus of standardization activities evolves from basic technology towards middleware. In the mobile telecom domain most interest is still centred around the development and standardization of basic technology like 4G and mobile TV (broadcasting) standards. But the standardization activities on higher levels are increasing – typically illustrated by the activities going on in the international consortia OMA (Open Mobile Alliance, for more info. See below) and OMTP (Open Mobile Terminal Platform). At the application level product and service suppliers are able to exploit the standards created at the lower levels to produce distinctive and differentiated proprietary products. In mobile telecoms the best known of these is DoCoMo’s i-mode platform.
The standards and standardization processes at the three levels exhibit important differences. These differences include:
· the actors involved: the lower levels are dominated by the big telecom companies, whereas at the highest level there is a huge diversity of companies: media houses, software firms, games developers;
· the innovation focus: at the lower levels it is on developing new technology supporting well established use practices, whereas at the higher levels it is on directly meeting market needs.
These differences have strong implications for choice of standardization models and strategies.