SEEBLOCKS.eu and Stan4SWAP announce collaboration in standardisation promotion

EU-funded projects to join forces in the promotion of standardisation as a major tool for enabling both policy and business innovation

SEEBLOCKS.eu and Stan4SWAP are pleased to announce their intention to collaborate in topics of mutual interest in the area of standardisation.

Both projects are involved in the promotion of standards as an enabling factor for innovation in sectors constituting key components of European digital and industrial policy. SEEBLOCKS.eu has the mission of promoting standardisation in Blockchain / Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT). As Rita Meneses of Project Coordinator Trust-IT says:

“Standardised DLT technologies are fundamental building blocks for achieving some of the most important goals of the Digital Decade 2030, such as the availability to all European citizens of services such as the Decentralised Digital Identity and the Digital Euro – in addition to enabling exciting new business models such as the Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO).”

But standards are not only enablers for the Digital Decade. They are also key enablers of the European Green Deal. Stan4SWAP aims to develop a standardisation roadmap towards facilitating the use of swappable battery systems for light category (L-CAT) vehicles, to facilitate the decarbonisation of urban mobility. As Enrico Mayrhofer of Project Coordinator Piaggio says:

“Our goal is to reach a standard that ensures the interoperability of batteries among various vehicles and swapping stations. This will not only reduce charging time but also lower costs for end-users. Additionally, it will facilitate the re-use and re-purposing of batteries for a second life, aligned with the circular economy approach.”

A Common Theme of Standards Engagement and Education

Two very different projects, but united by a common theme: the need to engage and educate their target stakeholder groups in the important role that standards and standardisation play in achieving their respective objectives. This is where the SEEBLOCKS Standards Visualisation Tool comes into focus.

To strengthen European organisations and particularly companies in standardisation, SEEBLOCKs.eu has developed and made available the Standards Visualisation Tool, a dynamic resource platform for stakeholders in standards education and training (e.g. suppliers of standards education resources such as universities, SDOs, research institutes and projects, and resource users such as representatives of European industries, SMEs, teachers and students).

Besides the tool’s functions to search for suitable material on standardisation and standards, its current topic areas are standardisation in general, ICT standardisation and blockchain standardisation. SEEBLOCKS.eu has now set itself the ambitious objective of extending the tool’s focus to other thematic areas (such as standards and regulations on artificial intelligence). The collaboration with Stan4SWAP will help to enable its extension to new thematic areas such as e-mobility and other key areas in the transport sector, as well as sustainability and the circular economy in general.

Stan4SWAP will contribute to the addition of new standards-related materials to new thematic sectors of the tool, as well as exploiting the more general resources in standards-related education to achieve its own objectives to “… increase stakeholders' engagement establishing an active dialogue between the standardization community, industry and research.”

The synergy created by this collaboration will lead to a richer set of offerings by the tool, and to an expansion of the European standardisation stakeholder community into a broader, multi-disciplinary ecosystem of standards-enabled innovation.

The SEEBLOCKS Partners

The lean and skilled Consortium of Partners is coordinated by Trust-IT Srl, an SME with over 15 years’ experience of managing complex pan-European projects including StandICT.eu, the flagship European ICT standardisation project. Partner COMMpla Srl contributes mature and sophisticated platform technology know-how to provide a rich environment hosting a myriad of Blockchain standardisation activities. Dublin City University is a major player and emerging technologies standards leader in Standards Working Groups and Technical Communities, as well as educating future standards experts. The team is rounded out by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, an innovation research institute with expertise in the interface between R&I and standardisation with teaching skills and works on the impact assessment of blockchain pilots as part of the IMPULSE project. All partners provide synergies with both StandICT.eu and HSBooster.eu – which provides tailored Standardisation support to H2020 and Horizon Europe projects.

The Stan4SWAP Partners

The multisector consortium is coordinated by Piaggio, producer of the legendary Vespa scooter and premier manufacturer of light vehicles, and brings together representatives from seven other partner organizations, representing the whole value chain of lightweight category mobility with swappable battery systems. CENELEC is a partner in the project, alongside HYBA, SWOBBEE, KTM, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Fraunhofer ISI, and BMGI consulting.

Join the SEEBLOCKS Community!

European blockchain standardisation experts have been invited to apply for our grants to help us enable the EU priorities of strengthening and deepening the ecosystems of ICT Standardisation experts that will drive the next generation of Blockchain and DLT standards developers. Further details and updates about the development of SEEBLOCKS.eu will be disseminated through the official website, via our social media channels Twitter and LinkedIn and YouTube channels as well as via a regular SEEBLOCKS.eu newsletter. Write us to sign up for our newsletter.

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