The Center for Global Standards Analysis

Statement of Mission, Goals and Objectives

January 2002

 

Mission Statement

The Center for Global Standards Analysis, a nonprofit corporation, was formed in 1999 to (1) develop education and research programs that will facilitate the study of United States Standards Policies and global standardization; (2) provide a neutral forum in which students, universities, government departments and agencies, national, regional and global standards organizations, associations and corporations can meet to discuss United States Standards Policies, global standardization and develop creative strategies.

The Challenge

How can the private sector and the government effectively manage a standards process that has become the gatekeeper for the global economy? Where will the new ideas, strategies and knowledge base come from to address the challenges of global standardization?

The Center intends to develop educational and research programs that will provide for significant opportunities to evaluate United States Standards Policies and global standardization. The Center has affiliated with The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, a major international research university, to create "think tank" conditions in a neutral environment.

Global Standardization

In recent years, global standardization issues have increasingly affected companies, industries and government institutions in profound and fundamental ways. Strategic plans are being altered and in some cases may be discarded altogether. Fortunes may change hands as organizations and institutions struggle with surprise and unforeseen standardization issues. Once effective management strategies are being rendered obsolete, even as the standardization challenges grow increasingly complex and widespread. For some companies, organizations and institutions, strategic standardization may become the single most important key to the future.

These changes are no longer national or regional in scope. Change is global and will cause a fundamental shift in how we think about standardization. State or national standards can move into the global arena almost overnight. One country's consensus safety standard soon emerges as a government proposal in another country as the line between government and private sector consensus standards is increasingly blurred. The consortia standards approach has become increasingly popular.

Profound Changes

Profound changes are occurring that will fundamentally alter our perspectives on global standardization. These same changes are fundamentally changing our economy, technology and society. Information and digital technologies are driving these changes. Today, a new global economy is clearly emerging that is knowledge and information-based where the keys to wealth and job creation are the extent to which ideas, information, innovation and technology are embedded in all sectors of a diversified and decentralized economy. Managing global standardization is threatening to stretch the resources of government and the private sector to the breaking point.

"Strategic Standardization"

In the Fall Semester of 1999, the Center inaugurated a multidisciplinary graduate course on Strategic Standardization at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. The course was offered to law students, engineering students, managers of national and international standardization programs. The course covered subjects such as United States Standards Policies, due process, conformity assessment, health, safety, the environment, ethics, competition and antitrust, trade (technical barriers) and electronic commerce. The speakers program for the course includes experts on United States Standards Policies and global standardization issues. Over the next few years, the Center plans to enhance the course, and expand educational programs to include distance learning alternatives for academic credit and continuing educational purposes.

Research Programs for 2002

In addition to the Center's educational programs, research programs for 2002 will cover issues such as United States Standards Policies, due process, potential liabilities associated with the development of safety standards, the environment, competition and antitrust, development of global standards and technical barriers to trade.

Forum for Policy Analysis

We look forward to the Center becoming a major forum for the analysis and discussion of significant United States Standards Policies and global standardization issues.

Founders

The founders of the Center include John Kenny, President, Infotech Strategies, Chairman of the Center; William Kelly, Professor of Civil Engineering, Catholic University, Vice Chairman of the Center; Donald Purcell, former President, Portable Power Equipment Manufacturers Association, and William Fox, Associate Dean and Professor of Law, The Columbus School of Law, Catholic University, General Counsel and President of the Center.

 

If you would like further information on the Center and its activities, please contact William F. Fox Jr., President, The Center for Global Standards Analysis, The Catholic University of America, School of Engineering, Pangborn 318, Washington, DC 20064; telephone 202/319-5514; FAX 202/319-4499, email: fox@cua.edu or kellyw@cua.edu