Standardimetrics

David Berlind writes about the current public discourse over the definition of “open” in “open standards”. Contributions: Bob Sutor, Tom Glover, Bobby Woolf, Stephen O’Grady, James Governor, and Neil Ward-Dutton. Lots of good thoughts.

The standards part of “open standards” got another injection: Via eGov monitor: Standards contribute £2.5 billion per annum to the UK economy according to a new study – The Empirical Economics of Standards – published today by the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the British Standards Institution (BSI).

The study mentioned is the final report from a research programme investigating the role and impact of standardisation on economic performance. The report is heavy stuff; a must-read for those seriously interested in standardisation.

Advanced econometric time series techniques are used in analysing technology dissemination at the whole economy level, to establish the parameters of dissemination through standards. The findings are interesting, but the methodological exercises are perhaps more interesting.

The report identifies standards as contributing to business in three specific ways:

• 1. Encouraging innovation
  Standards stimulate innovation and provide support for businesses from concept to market. They have the power to shape the way sectors work by sharing knowledge and creating effective synergies that accelerate the speed to market for products and services.
• 2. Foundation for growth

  Standards increase profitability by improving business efficiency and reducing costs, increasing consumer confidence and providing a foundation for growth.

• 3. Promoting market access
  Standards provide better access to markets and facilitate trade. They promote competition in the market place by helping industries capture knowledge, share insight and with it reduce risk.

Besides the report, check here, here, here, and here.

Now, is anyone working on econometrics for open standards (in IT)? Combining it with chasm crossing thinking, perhaps?? I’ll be digging into this over the summer.