Standardization Supports Innovation
Bringing a new class of technology to market can be a challenge for SMEs. Find out how Canadian clean tech company Terragon used standardization to help commercialize their waste-to-energy device.
Consider standards at the start of your journey towards commercialization
Standards set a benchmark for the design and development of robust innovations. Standards are published specifications that ensure the reliability of materials, products, methods, and services people use. They are established by consensus and approved by a recognized body, such as the Standards Council of Canada. Standards are based on consolidated subject matter expertise to promote optimum community benefits.
Reaping the Benefits
With standardization, Canada’s innovations reach new heights globally and at home. Since standards reflect the views of individuals who develop them, they help innovators shape their industry, access new markets, raise the bar, and create a legacy.
Innovators also achieve commercialization through standardization, allowing them to scale up their companies, reduce development cost, and increase revenue. Other benefits include:
- Drive innovation and improve productivity
- Influence marketplace rules
- Secure market access
- Protect and exploit intellectual property
Innovators can further benefit from the relationship between standards and their intellectual property by participating in standards development. Protected intellectual property can be embedded into standards and enhance a company’s competitive advantage. For more information, check out the IP-standards factsheet.
Our success is Canada’s success…
Our goal to deliver 63 standardization strategies by 2022 is well underway, with 36 strategies already delivered to help Canadian innovators on the road to success. 59% of the companies we’ve worked with have already reported an increase in either exports, jobs, or revenue as a direct result of their engagement with SCC. We have dedicated more than $1.9 million in funding to implement standardization strategies for Canadian companies and facilitated the participation of 49 Canadian innovators on national and international technical committees to ensure our nation’s interests are represented in developing new standards.
Additionally, SCC has been able to use the program to leverage the standardization network to join Canada’s Plan to Mobilize Industry to Fight COVID-19. These efforts range from advancing more Canadians’ participation in personal protective equipment (PPE) standardization committees, to facilitating standards development for better health data sharing.
For more about our progress, read our Interim Report.
So how does the Standards Council of Canada help?
The Innovation Initiative of the Standards Council of Canada guides, facilitates, and collaborates with innovators every step of the way along the path to standardization—both nationally and globally.
We work with Canadian innovators to...
- Identify the most promising innovations that would benefit from international standardization
- Build the case internationally as to why Canada should be entrusted with leadership in developing the relevant standards
- Garner support from key standardization partners and obtain approval for new work item proposals
- Select and support credible Canadian innovators to be elected as chairs or secretaries of relevant technical committees in order to manage and guide the standards drafting process
- Support Canadian innovators to better leverage their technology’s intellectual property to influence standards
- Design supportive international certification and accreditation programmes to facilitate international market access and regulatory compliance once standards are published
- Engage Canadian regulators to ensure new standards supporting Canadian innovations are referenced in relevant federal, provincial, and territorial regulations and in procurement where appropriate
Sectors
We’re particularly interested in emergent industry sectors where a lot of innovation—and consequently standardization—is happening. These include Artificial Intelligence, Data, and Internet of Things; Cybersecurity and Information Communications Technology; Clean-Tech, Agri-Tech, and Ocean-Tech; Advanced Manufacturing, Autonomous Vehicles, and Robotics; and Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Digital Technologies.