White House releases national standards strategy for critical and emerging technologies

Washington, May 4.

The U.S. administration has developed and released a National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technologies, designed to strengthen U.S. leadership in setting international standards in this area. The White House press office announced this on Thursday.

“Today, the administration of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris unveiled the U.S. government’s National Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology Standards, which will strengthen both the United States’ base for protecting American consumers’ technology and U.S. leadership and competitiveness in developing international standards,” the brief said.

The document explains that standards are the “guidelines” needed to ensure the safety and compatibility of the technologies Americans use in their daily lives. “This strategy will update the U.S. rule-based approach to standards development,” the brief notes.

The U.S. administration has several objectives in developing standards for technology. The strategy calls for increased investment in “pre-standardization” research to advance innovation and cutting-edge science. U.S. officials also intend to work with “a broad range of the private sector, academia, and other key stakeholders, including foreign partners,” to increase U.S. participation in standards development. The U.S. will invest in education and training to participate more effectively in the development of technical standards.

“The U.S. government will enlist the support of like-minded individuals and partners around the world to ensure the integrity of the international standards system so that international standards are set on technical merit through fair processes that promote broad participation by countries around the world and create inclusive growth for all,” the brief noted.

Engaging with other countries

The strategy was presented at the briefing by U.S. administration officials. One of the questions concerned the possibility of a rift between countries in their approaches to defining standards. The reporter asked the official about “prospects for cooperation with China,” which is necessary to reduce the likelihood of scenarios in which “two sets of new global standards” emerge – the U.S. with allies and the PRC with other countries.

In response, a U.S. administration spokeswoman said the White House, in the context of the tech standards strategy, “doesn’t want to exclude any country.” “We really want everyone to sit down at the table so that the best technological solutions around the world can come to fruition. A very bad outcome in any scenario, I think, would be that the globe would split and different regions would develop their own standards that would not be good for the U.S. economy,” she added.

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