ASTM International has released a white paper entitled, “Standards Development: Enabling Manufacturing Innovation and Accelerating Commercialization.”
The paper provides a high-level vision for optimal partnership and interaction between the global standardization and innovation communities. In particular, it emphasizes how international standards development activities must be proactively undertaken to keep pace with marketplace innovation.
“Businesses throughout the world need quality standards that evolve in tandem with advances in 3D printing, nanotechnology, robotics, and other cutting-edge fields,” says Katharine Morgan, ASTM International president. “Together, we can meet that challenge by creating aligned roadmaps, by maximizing participation in standards development, and more.”
The white paper (available here) explains the value that a collaborative and integrated approach to voluntary consensus standards development can bring to innovation initiatives. Specifically, the paper emphasizes:
- Early engagement in strategic planning to provide the interface between science and technology, research and market.
- Participation of all key stakeholders to ensure alignment of technology and process goals.
- Leveraging the strength of standards development organizations (SDOs), including speed, collaborative expertise, and agility.
There are examples of how this approach could benefit global leaders involved in standardization and related R&D.
“High-quality technical standards are the foundation for long-term commercial success and key to accelerating deployment of advanced manufacturing technologies,” says John Vickers, NASA principal technologist for advanced manufacturing. “If we strengthen the relationship between R&D and standardization activities, we will improve the competitiveness of U.S. advanced manufacturing industries.”
The paper provides a figure that visually depicts how the standards and innovation communities can move forward in parallel with ongoing interactions. The paper also highlights how collaborative approaches are already succeeding in the field of additive manufacturing.