Austrian Standards International General Assembly looks to a great future
Vienna (OTS) – Full speed ahead on standardization
Austrian Standards International General Assembly looks to a great future
Austrian Standards International President Anton Ofner and Austrian Standards CEO and Managing Director Valerie Höllinger invited people to the 2024 Annual General Meeting on June 19. This year is probably one of the most exciting that the European standardization process has ever seen. The political commitments at almost all key levels are currently providing important tailwind for standards in the major transformation issues. Because implementing this requires the swarm of knowledge that standards provide. This was also confirmed by future and trend researcher Christine Varga. In her keynote, she rolled out the carpet for “collectives” such as standardization committees as designers of change, while she was critical of the traditional cult of experts in shaping the future.
Once a year, Austrian Standards – the Austrian hub for national, European and international standardization – invites its members to its regular general meeting. Anton Ofner, President of Austrian Standards International, explains: “The high level of interest once again illustrates the importance of standardization and confirms our approach. Standards ensure that one thing fits the other. Standards accompany us all every day and throughout our lives. Standards also play a crucial role in major future topics such as AI, hydrogen or the circular economy.
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This year the general assembly took place under new circumstances. Just a week earlier, Economics Minister Martin Kocher had announced the partial adaptation of the national standardization strategy to the EU standardization strategy, which was only adopted in 2022. “This is wind in the sails of a European economic strategy that is more than ever in global competition regarding climate goals. At the same time, this means an unmistakable appreciation for the European collective knowledge that we stand for
,” says Valerie Höllinger, CEO and Managing Director of Austrian Standards. Small and medium-sized businesses should particularly benefit from this push. According to the Ministry of Economics, they make up 99.8% of all companies in Austria. Accordingly, they are already well represented in the standardization committees. Your know-how flows directly into national, European and international standards. “Today, more than 90% of our standards already have European or international origins. Europe adopted the potential opportunities of standards in an EU standardization strategy two years ago. Together with our partners and committees, it is important to us to make the Austrian contribution
“, confirms Höllinger.
While Europe has agreed on standards for the joint management of transformation, business and trade, the business models behind it are structured differently from country to country. The next political steps are expected here as part of the system upgrade.
New members of the Presidium and Presidential Council
An important part of the agenda were the personnel changes from new to re-elections as well as appointments to the Presidium and Presidential Council. With a lot of gratitude and respect, a very committed member of the Presidium was officially farewelled at the general assembly. Matthias Tschirf represented the federal government’s positions in the executive committee from 2019 to 2024. His person and his commitment were recognized with honorary membership at the general assembly. In his speech he stated: “I have had a lot in common with standards over the last 12 years. It is one of the most exciting subjects of my career. Namely, if you want to understand the internal market, you have to deal with standardization. When you deal with international trade policy, you have to deal with norms. And at the same time, standardization creates something that has become rare in recent years: all stakeholders sit at the same table and work together on a solution, a standard. That’s fascinating. I believe that standardization and especially Austrian Standards have achieved a lot of important things for the republic.
He is succeeded by Alisa Thomann-Mlejnek.
The Presidential Council of Austrian Standards is the consultative body on economic policy and strategic issues. New members were elected for this purpose:
- Norman Brunner, Head of Accreditation Austria BMAW
- Michael Mattes, expert; Heating, air conditioning, ventilation and plumbing technicians
- Clara Neppel, Senior Director European Business Operations IEEE
- Sebastian Klocker, Austrian Federation of Trade Unions (from December 1, 2024)
Crowd knowledge instead of a cult of experts
With her inspiring keynote, Christiane Varga, sociologist, trend and futurologist, gave the green light to a hopeful future that we can only successfully pursue as a collective. At the beginning of transformation it is important to recognize patterns of change and to actively shape them using collective experience. This collective intelligence represents the combined knowledge of individuals. It includes, among other things, the experiences and skills of a group and can be used to solve issues effectively and sustainably. This is what standards have stood for for more than 100 years.
You can find printable photos for download here.
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Austrian Standards
Mirjana Verena Mully
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About Austrian Standards
Austrian Standards is the Austrian organization for standardization & innovation and part of an international network in 167 countries. The main goal: to support finding solutions to social challenges, enable more innovations and increase the competitiveness and export ability of the Austrian and European economies. Standards are developed by practical experts in European and international cooperation.
In Austria alone there are more than 4,700 experts from around 2,800 different organizations, disciplines and sectors (business, research, administration and NGOs). Austrian Standards connects these experts and offers access to a global network through membership in international standardization organizations such as ISO, CEN and ETSI. With digital solutions, Austrian Standards also offers easy access to standards from all over the world
World. Specialist books, congresses and seminars support practical application; Certifications confirm compliance with standards. Austrian Standards has around 130 employees and has been awarded equalitA, the seal of approval for the promotion of women within the company. www.austrian-standards.at