Globalization and Technology Standards: The Case for Expanded U.S. Leadership

Globalization and Technology Standards:
The Case for Expanded U.S. Leadership

ITIF Breakfast Forum
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 - 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM
Washington, DC

Globalization has changed not just the face of technology-based competition but, by implication, the face of global standardization. Standards are key to efficient, widespread deployment of new technologies and innovations, and increasingly they play a key role in determining global market access and national competitiveness. As traditional aspects of trade are minimized (e.g., tariff barriers) standards are playing a more central role in trade. Indeed, not only does the current global framework for standardization include trade agreements (including WTO Agreements and a multiplicity of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements) but the drive by many economies to become standards leaders, and in some cases to use standards for mercantilist ends.

Please join us on January 13, 2009 for a breakfast forum on Globalization and Technology Standards as three internationally recognized experts in the field provide an overview of the global framework for standardization, and the respective roles of the government and private sector in the United States in setting direction for the U.S. standards system and its interface with the global system. Mary Saunders, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Manufacturing and Services, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce (DOC), will discuss the role of standards in innovation, the changing landscape of international standards, and the specific roles that NIST and the Department of Commerce play in the U.S. standards system. Jeff Weiss, Senior Director, Technical Barriers to Trade, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), will discuss USTR's role in developing U.S. trade policy on technical barriers to trade (TBT) and standards, key TBT/standards issues affecting the ICT sector, and current issues relating to the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. Donald Purcell, Chairman, The Center for Global Standards Analysis, will discuss the drive by emerging economies to become standards leaders, the increasing impact of NGOs and other actors in global standardization, and implications for the U.S. standards system.

Moderator: Rob Atkinson, President, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Speakers: Donald Purcell, Chairman, The Center for Global Standard Analysis
Jeff Weiss, Senior Director, Technical Barriers to Trade, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
Mary Saunders, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Manufacturing and Services, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce

What: ITIF Breakfast Forum:
When: Tuesday, January 13, 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Where: The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (map and directions)
1250 Eye Street, NW, Suite 200, Room 2
Washington, DC 20005

To learn more about the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, please contact:

Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
1250 I Street, NW
Suite 200
Washington, DC 20005
E-mail: mail@innovationpolicy.org
Phone: (202) 449-1351
Fax: (202) 638-4922

ITIF is a non-profit, 501(c)(3), non-partisan public policy think tank committed to articulating and advancing a pro-productivity, pro-innovation and pro-technology public policy agenda internationally, in Washington and the states. Recognizing the vital role of technology in ensuring prosperity, ITIF focuses on innovation, productivity, and digital economy issues.