The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) represents 98% of global trade in electrotechnical and electronic products and brings together more than 20,000 experts from all over the world. The topics of the 80th IEC General Assembly range from Industry 4.0 and renewable energies to micro grids, IT security and digitalization. The IEC World Congress will be opened in Frankfurt's Festhalle on October 10 by Dr. Junji Nomura, President of the IEC and Member of the Executive Board of Panasonic Corporation, by Roland Bent, Chairman of the DKE German Commission for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies in DIN and VDE and Member of the Executive Board of Phoenix Contact, and by Brigitte Zypries, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

"Standards in electrical engineering and information technology are a prerequisite for a company's export success," emphasized Michael Teigeler, Managing Director of VDE|DKE in the run-up to the event, which is being held under the motto "Connecting Communities - Reinvent Standardization". According to a survey of the 1,300 member companies, there is a great need for standardization among technology companies. The greatest need is currently for electromobility (44%), smart grids (36%), IT security (35%) and Industry 4.0 (32%). The need for battery and storage technologies (29%), the Internet of Things (28%), smart home (24%) and autonomous driving (21%) is just as high for companies.

Strategic aspects such as the influence of digitalization on future collaboration between the 20,000 experts are also on the agenda of the standardization summit. "Up to now, coordination in the international committees has been based on the 2.0 principle. The experts on a committee come together in one place to get a standard off the ground," explains Teigeler. Although the votes are generally democratic, the detailed discussions surrounding the vote take place under lock and key. "Sometimes the boxing gloves were taken out behind closed doors to reach an agreement," jokes Teigeler. The VDE|DKE Managing Director wants to use innovative event formats to make standardization more open, transparent, participatory and, above all, faster: "We are revolutionizing the entire standardization landscape. With the IEC Campus and the Reinvention Laboratory, we are creating a new environment for the exchange of opinions, discussion and networking, as well as for interesting debates between generations and experts from different countries."