BRUSSELS, Belgium, November 20 /PRNewswire/ --

The Intellectual Property Institute (IPI) and the Center for European Law and Economics (CELEC) today jointly launched an open dialogue about the health of the standards system. Today's forum brought together a group of academics, industry experts and government officials to discuss the standards-setting process and the important role standards can play in the information, communication and technology sector with implications for that sector's broader group of stakeholders. This forum is one of several taking place in Brussels this week on the standards-setting system.

We have established an important precedent in this debate, said Dr. Christopher Stothers from the IPI. Today's collaborative, open dialogue among key stakeholders in the standards debate sheds light on the issues surrounding possible improvements to the standards system and brings diverse voices into the discussion.

Standards can promote innovation and competition, fuel market growth and protect investment. The standard-setting process should be designed to support these objectives, said Dr. Mattias Ganslandt from the Center for European Law and Economics. Today we have started an open dialogue about the standards-setting system that involves stakeholders from corporations, academia and government.

Forum participants felt that the value of ICT standards in today's interconnected economy cannot be over-stated. There was a general consensus that standards can improve efficiency and interoperability. They allow different products and services to work together better and improve product safety and productivity for businesses and consumers. For instance, standards mean that travelers can get cash from an ATM machine anywhere, any time, and from any bank while standardized wireless technology allows users to connect to more than 2.3 million Wi-Fi hotspots around the world; granting access to the Internet at Starbucks in London or Sydney, Australia.

The main objective of today's discussion has been to focus on the interests of relevant stakeholders vis-a-vis the standards process, so that we can ensure that any proposed improvements will help us to accomplish the goals of standardization, Dr. Stothers from the IPI explained.

This event is a launching point for a wide range of forums and discussions surrounding the issue. It is the hope of the organizers that they will continue to bring the full range of interested parties to the discussion in an honest, open and collaborative fashion.

It is our belief that the consensus-based and voluntary standards-setting system is working, but it can be improved through greater participation by all stakeholders, said Dr. Ganslandt, from CELEC. Our forum today was part of an open and collaborative dialogue and involved parties that are interested in a rich and robust standards-setting process. This is the first of many such events that can bring more diverse voices into the standards-setting process.

For more information on this forum and on the collaborative and open standards-setting process, please visit: www.talkstandards.com

Monica Cristina of Intellectual Property Institute and Center for European Law and Economics, +32(0)2-289-0952, monica.cristina@blueprintpartners.eu