In October 2016, around 100 experts joined together with one another at the ‘German Pre-G20 Standardisation Conference – Standards Boost the Digital World’ to discuss standardisation in digitalisation. The conference was held in the run-up to Germany’s G20 Presidency, which began on 1 December 2016.

The experts attending were drawn from government ministries, state authorities, and standardisation organisations from the G20 countries and the guest countries of the German Presidency. They used the event to discuss key horizontal issues within digitalisation, including Industrie 4.0, smart cities, smart mobility and IT security. The aim was to identify potential areas of cooperation in international standardisation and to develop binding core statements.

State-Secretary Machnig on the importance of the conference:
“We want to engage in dialogue with our international partners and ensure that we develop open and interoperable standards for Industrie 4.0. This is the only way to make sure we have a globally integrated economy and industrial sector that actually works. The national and international standardisation bodies need to play their part in establishing these standards, and ensure that the interests of all stakeholders are taken into account.”

The event was organised by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in partnership with the German Institute for Standardization (DIN) and the German Commission for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies (DKE). The outcomes from the conference will be fed into the rest of the G20 discussion process.

On 1 December 2016, the German government took over its one-year presidency of the association of the world’s most important industrial and emerging economies (G20). Key areas of focus include the digitalisation of the economy and of society.