Here, you'll find an overview of some of ANSI's notable accomplishments over the past year, driving responsive solutions and enhancing the critical work being done across the standardization system. Explore the included links and resources to learn more about how we're working with our members and partners to respond to change and fuel innovation for U.S. competitiveness and quality of life.
In 2022 the ANSI Board of Directors launched an effort to identify opportunities and challenges presented by the evolving standards landscape. Following a year of extensive work by Board Focus Groups to assess needs and propose actions, in 2023 the Focus Group leads aligned on an overarching, comprehensive recommendation: ANSI should launch an institute-wide campaign to educate and raise awareness about the urgent challenges to the standardization system due to the increasing politicization of standards and inform stakeholders about how to partner with ANSI and the standards community to address concerns.
A set of recommended actions were identified that are intended to:
ANSI has initiated these efforts, working with our members and partners to assure the integrity and efficacy of our system and drive the collaboration and resilience needed to thrive in a changing standards landscape. Stay tuned to ANSI news for updates on progress.
Rapid technology advancements are changing society in immeasurable ways and driving business and job transformation in every industry. And among the hottest tech topics right now is generative AI. With the non-stop explosion of new applications, tools, and uses, it's literally everywhere—including at World Standards Week 2023. ANSI is hosting two special events focused on aspects of generative AI most relevant to our community right now:
As stakeholders across the standardization community continually face new frontiers, ANSI is responding with targeted activities, events, and resources designed to identify common issues, share insights, and propose solutions for progress and innovation amid all the change. Access WSW event proceedings.
Bringing diverse stakeholders together is at the heart of everything ANSI does, and it's fundamental to a flexible, open, and effective standardization system—particularly in such complicated, transformative times. World Standards Week 2023 was also the occasion for a conference on Synergies and Shared Interests in Standards, where ANSI-accredited standards developers, consortia, and other stakeholders shared their approaches and insights on common priorities, opportunities, and challenges. Through interactive discussions, participants from diverse sectors and forums explored how the standards community can best navigate a changing landscape, and what can be done collaboratively to assure the global standards infrastructure is protected.
Access WSW event proceedings.
This year brought about a significant event for the standardization community: the federal government’s release of a National Standards Strategy (NSS) for Critical and Emerging Technology (CET). A first-of-its-kind document from the U.S. government, the NSS emphasizes the importance of increased U.S. engagement in international standards for CETs and U.S. government support for our private-sector-led system.
ANSI president Joe Bhatia joined a panel at a White House Summit introducing the strategy, and spoke about the necessity of an open, rules-based standards system that fosters growth, innovation, and opportunity. The NSS recognizes and complements ANSI’s U.S. Standards Strategy and underscores ANSI's valuable partnership with NIST and other government departments and agencies.
In September NIST released a Request for Information to gather feedback on implementation of the NSS, and ANSI is coordinating a response based on input received from the standards community. We've begun plans to co-host a listening event with NIST in November 2023, and are committed to working with our community to assure that our private-sector-led, market-driven system continues to be well served.
What should Congressional staff know when drafting bills that impact standards development for critical and emerging technologies? The Institute brought this information to the Capitol this spring in an informational briefing: “Technology Standards: What They Are, Why They Matter, and What Congress Can Do.”
ANSI staff and members spoke with 40 congressional staff from the House and Senate, highlighting the diverse standardization organizations comprising the U.S. system, the current AI standards landscape, and the value of avoiding prescriptive legislative language in technology policy and standards.
An area of standards activity that has seen a lot of growth recently is automated and connected infrastructure—like smart communities and the Internet of Things. ANSI is actively responding to this movement, taking the lead in gathering input on structuring a standards information-sharing forum on this topic. Following a request by the Enduring Security Framework’s International Standards Study Group (ISG), we’ve reached out to our stakeholders to find out their current or planned standards activities surrounding this important topic.
If your organization is active in standards development for cybersecurity-related aspects of automated and connected infrastructure, let us know! Contact Mary Saunders, ANSI’s vice president of government relations and public policy, at [email protected].
One thing nearly everyone in the U.S. standards community agrees on is the need for increased capacity building of standardization participants through more effective and available education and training. ANSI has prioritized this goal and is continually improving and expanding our training courses for domestic and international standardization participants. The latest:
Beyond our own growing collection, the Institute maintains a directory of standardization-community-wide educational resources to help other organizations share their knowledge and contribute to an informed, effective, and engaged U.S. standardization workforce for today and tomorrow.
One of the best ways to learn about standards is by getting first-hand information, straight from the source. A new initiative from the ANSI Committee on Education connects faculty and scholars around the country with standards experts to give students unique insights about working with standards and in the standardization system.
Launched in 2023, the Request a Speaker program invites professors/instructors at any U.S. post-secondary educational institution to submit a simple online form describing their areas of interest. Then ANSI connects the educator with the right expert to speak to their students about standards' impact on a technology, field, or sector, and to provide answers to questions about standards and conformity assessment activities directly relevant to their studies.
Standards are at the very core of nearly every technology, industry, and innovation transforming society—but are often underrepresented in U.S. education.
We need today's students to become tomorrow's standardization leaders—not only to advance progress, safety, and quality of life, but to build a standards-literate workforce tuned into the opportunities standards knowledge and participation can open up.
Greater involvement in standards setting from individual consumers is a key to improving the safety of products. But while recognizing that importance, many standards developers and U.S. stakeholders report significant challenges to increasing consumer engagement in standardization. ANSI has recently launched a number of activities to reach consumers, encourage their engagement, and support their capacity to participate.
Our Membership Team—and everyone at ANSI—is always looking for new and better ways to engage and respond to priorities we hear from our constituents. We're reaching out and working in collaboration with our members, identifying areas where we can have the most impact, and initiating responsive activities and solutions to serve our community of innovators.
As the world continues to turn in new directions, the needs of ANSI's members are continually evolving too. The Institute is ramping up efforts to respond strategically and efficiently to changing needs, identifying and initiating the tools, resources, and solutions that will best serve an increasingly diverse and complex membership and standardization community.
The latest session of ANSI's Organizational Member Forum (OMF) series on best practices for hybrid meetings brought together representatives of standards development organizations for lively discussions of shared challenges, strategies, and experiences adapting to hybrid meetings. Topics included:
Watch the video below, or visit ANSI's Navigating the New Normal resource page for the full series.
Read the news lately? ANSI news, that is—and if so, you may have noticed some exciting changes. As part of a larger strategic approach to assessing and identifying what information and resources our community really wants and needs, ANSI has embarked on a multi-phased update of our news section on ansi.org. Enhancements already on track include:
A new resource page highlighting the Impact of Standards in an engaging, user-friendly format
Transformation of longer-form Standards Spotlight articles into more impactful examples of Standards Behind the Headlines
Kid- (and adult-) friendly graphics and resources highlighting standards everywhere, fun facts, puzzles, and more
Transformation of ANSI Member Updates into individual pages/URLs for easier sharing with members and promotion
If you're not a subscriber already, be sure to sign up for ANSI's free What's New? newsletter so you won't miss any of the good stuff, delivered every Monday.
Have you ever been lost in the confusing soup of acronyms and abbreviations flying around a standards meeting? OMG, you're not alone. In response to multiple member requests, ANSI created a handy guide to some of the most common acronyms you'll find on ansi.org and throughout U.S. and international standardization activities.
And building on this set of user-friendly resources, ANSI published a Membership FAQ page, focused specifically on questions current or prospective ANSI members frequently have about activities, opportunities, and benefits.
As the first phase of a larger effort to provide members with better access to the tools and information they need, ANSI launched a new and improved Membership Portal in 2023. Improvements include enhanced search of updated membership rosters, a new dynamic membership application, and changes to the dues and renewal process for a simplified user experience. Additional upgrades are in the works.
Do you have an idea for a tool or resource that would help with your work in standardization? Drop us a line at [email protected].
Among ANSI’s key roles in the U.S. standardization system, the Institute:
These activities reflect the flexibility of the market-driven U.S. system and help to ensure its continued strength and impact in innovative standardization work.
Active STANDARDS COLLABORATIVES & PANELS:
As of 2023, there were 855,860 drones in the United States registered by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The ANSI Unmanned Aircraft Systems Standardization Collaborative (UASSC) in 2022-23 published semi-annual reports tracking progress by standards developers to address 71 gaps identified in the Standardization Roadmap for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (version 2.0, June 2020), and monitoring continues.
Additive manufacturing (AM) continues to drive opportunities across industries thanks to ongoing improvements in machines, methods, and materials. In 2023 America Makes and ANSI published the Standardization Roadmap for Additive Manufacturing, Version 3.0, describing the current and desired future standardization landscape for AM focused on industrial market sectors using AM technologies. Developed by the America Makes and ANSI Additive Manufacturing Standardization Collaborative (AMSC), the roadmap identified 141 standardization gaps with corresponding recommendations. As standards developers implement the recommendations, that activity is being tracked.
In 2022 the Department of Defense (DoD) identified microelectronics as a priority area for secure supply chains to ensure the development and sustainment of capabilities critical to national security. On behalf of DoD, ANSI held workshops in July and October 2022 to assess standardization activities that will help the agency fulfill its mandate, under Section 224 of the FY20 National Defense Authorization Act, to establish standards for supply chain security for microelectronics products and services procured by DoD.
ANSI accredits standards developers and approves their documents as American National Standards (ANS) when they meet a set of due process requirements. The ANS designation is recognized by national and international stakeholders as the mark of an open and equitable standards development process, fostering acceptance and use of voluntary consensus standards and the overall strength of the U.S. system.
As the numbers below demonstrate, the ANS process supports capacity, responsiveness, and flexibility by capitalizing on the diverse expertise of many developers while creating assurances for the integrity of a consensus-based process that allows for all voices to be heard.
Determining how to measure and articulate the impacts of voluntary consensus standards on health and safety is a challenge that organizations across the standardization community face. In August 2023, ANSI and UL Standards & Engagement published a white paper, Principles for Measuring the Impact of Voluntary Consensus Standards on Human Health and Safety, developed by representatives of U.S. federal government agencies, standards developing organizations, and other stakeholders, that takes a holistic approach to calculating those benefits. The paper focuses on a set of concepts, frameworks, and considerations that can be used flexibly based on the scope, technical approach, industry, and users of the standard being assessed.
It has never been more important for the U.S. to demonstrate its commitment to the development of globally relevant standards, at both the policy and technical levels, as the numbers of international standardization activities and diverse participants increase. Robust and effective U.S. leadership and engagement in international technical activities is, as always, a priority for ANSI.
The U.S. is among the most active members of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), with ANSI and its U.S. National Committee, respectively, representing our nation and cultivating leadership positions in these forums. As emerging technologies and other global factors drive rapid change, it's critical that U.S. interests double-down on engagement and support to maintain and expand on the impressive ISO and IEC activity levels you see in the tabs below.
As the information age recedes in the rear-view screens of our autonomous vehicles and virtual offices, what comes next? Whatever it is, ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee (JTC) 1 on Information technology will keep pace, with U.S. leadership as chair and ANSI as secretariat. More than 3,400 IT standards have been published by JTC 1 to date, and new efforts continually keep pace with rapidly emerging technologies.
In 2023 ISO/IEC JTC 1 held a webinar for a broad discussion of ISO and IEC standards related to the Metaverse—an immersive virtual world facilitated by VR and AR. Over the past 20 years, ISO and IEC have developed standards for imagery, audio, video, VR/AR/MR, and information technologies relevant to implementing Metaverse applications, and the June event provided insights into ongoing projects and opportunities for participation from various committees and working groups.
JTC 1 also recently established a new Subcommittee (SC) 44 on IT for Smart Cities, bringing the number of active JTC 1 SCs to 24, developing IT standards and guidelines that meet user needs, enhance global trade, and protect intellectual property.
As international standardization activities continually expand in scope and participants across every industry, ANSI and our partners are working strategically to bolster U.S. influence, drive leadership and innovation, and share our expertise around the world.
Building on the robust activities highlighted above, a number of new work proposals were advanced within ISO this year covering a broad array of topics, including the sharing economy, circular economy, and sustainable finance. To encourage active U.S. engagement in these important activities, ANSI embarked on focused outreach efforts to affected U.S. stakeholders to gather comments on the proposals and identify interested parties to populate and lead U.S. Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs). And ANSI expanded training offerings for U.S. TAG leaders in ISO and IEC so they can be even more effective contributors in international standardization.
Among many advancements over the past year, the U.S. National Committee (USNC) of the IEC has expanded its programs to attract, inform, and support tomorrow's U.S. electrotechnical standardization experts and leaders—a key resource for our nation's innovation and competitiveness.
In December 2022 the USNC announced that Veronica A. Lancaster, vice president of standards programs at the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), was elected as USNC president—the first woman to ascend to this role. Another big announcement came in June 2023, when USNC member Robert (Bob) Sherwin was named the winner of the 2023 IEC Lord Kelvin Award—the highest honor bestowed by the IEC.
ANSI has built long-standing relationships with standards bodies and governmental entities around the globe and continually works to strengthen those connections, engage with new trading partners, and increase opportunities for U.S. industry and government.
Together with the USNC/IEC, the German Institute for Standardization (DIN), and the German Commission for Electrotechnical, Electronic, and Information Technologies of DIN and VDE (DKE), ANSI co-hosted the 2023 U.S.-German Standards Panel in Washington, DC. The hybrid event featured discussions on priorities and actions related to digital transformation and smart standards, climate change, artificial intelligence, and the U.S. and European standards strategies, as summarized in a report published by ANSI.
Continuing a 25-year dialogue, ANSI leadership met with counterparts from the European Standards Organizations (ESOs) in Brussels in 2023 to share perspectives, identify opportunities to cooperate on mutual priorities, and develop strategies for U.S-EU trade and competitiveness. With all the changes happening in the international standards landscape, it's more critical than ever that ANSI maintains its connections with ESO leadership and promotes the value of an open standards process aligned with WTO principles.
On the other side of the globe, ANSI and the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) co-hosted the 2023 Korea-U.S. Standards Forum for the third time since 2021 for discussions of standards strategies and activities in the U.S. and Korea related to artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum technology, autonomous vehicles, and carbon neutrality. Held in Seoul with hybrid participation this year, the event established a platform for leaders and experts from both countries to enhance mutual understanding, exchange expertise and best practices, and foster cooperation.
ANSI provides opportunities for U.S. industry, government, and partners around the world to participate in international development activities that help developing countries implement international best practices and reduce unsafe or poor-quality products, services, and infrastructure.
The Standards Alliance Phase 2 (SA2), a public-private partnership between ANSI and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), leads initiatives supporting the capacity of developing countries in the areas of standards and conformity assessment, good regulatory practices, and private-sector engagement across sectors and regions, including the following examples:
View SA2 project reports and information.
Beyond the Standards Alliance, ANSI's recent international development and capacity-building activities include the U.S.–Indo-Pacific Standards & Technology Cooperation Program (STCP), sponsored by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA). ANSI has successfully completed this program in March 2023 with six hybrid or virtual technical workshops in the focused on priority topics for the region, including electric vehicles, cold chain, healthcare IT, and 6GHz Wi-Fi spectrum, etc. The U.S.–Indo-Pacific STCP convenes government officials and industry representatives from the U.S. and Indo-Pacific region to share important commercial and industrial standards information and practices.
View STCP workshop information.
For the full range of ANSI's international development partnership activities, visit the ANSI Standards Portal: Standardization Resource for Global Trade.
