Over 40 new standards to be developed for new tech, business processes
Singapore
THE Singapore Standards Council (SSC) will in the coming months develop more than 40 new standards for nascent technologies and business processes such as additive manufacturing and video analytics, in its push to keep pace with economic transformation and new technologies.
Enterprise Singapore (ESG), which oversees the execution of the Singapore Standardisation Programme led by the SSC, said the council will rope in more experts in these emerging fields to lead and support the development of these standards over the next year. This will be important especially for nascent areas "where greater collaboration and discussion are crucial to identify the new and unaddressed needs for standards development", said ESG.
Standards are sets of specifications designed to enhance market acceptance, innovation and quality in various materials, products, methods and services. These benchmarks are reviewed every five years.
ESG added that standards serve as guides for best practices in navigating and dealing with disruptive technologies, which can cause economic displacement as well as provide opportunities for new business models to thrive.
Robert Chew, SSC chairman and managing partner of iGlobe Partners, said: "Quality and standards have supported our economic growth and will continue to shape Singapore's future.
"It will underpin innovation, facilitate market access for enterprises and drive interoperability. It is important that public- and private-sector stakeholders come forward and lead the development of critical standards for Singapore."
The industry-led SSC completed 112 new and reviewed standards between April 2018 and March this year, and expects about 10,000 organisations to adopt these standards.
Nineteen of them involve nascent areas, including a technical reference on data interchange for last-mile delivery using parcel locker networks, and another for autonomous vehicles.
SSC projects that more than 400 organisations will adopt these standards.
While compliance is voluntary, the standards help enterprises establish consistent specifications and procedures that are easy to understand and adopt. This in turn ensures compatibility, simplifies production and product development and shortens time-to-market.
Standards can also be a stepping stone to new growth and market opportunities, since products and services that are compliant with international standards can be more easily exported to other countries.
Compliance with Singapore Standards will become mandatory when they are used by government bodies in regulations or administrative requirements for safety, health and environmental issues.
In the coming year, SSC intends to increase its participation in international fora, to continue advancing Singapore's interest in standards. It currently participates in technical committees developing international standards in areas like blockchain, artificial intelligence, the circular economy and smart manufacturing.
SSC plans to take up more leadership and membership positions in international standard-setting bodies like the International Standards Organisation (ISO). At the moment, it is leading the development of new ISO standards for bunkering, cloud computing and water efficiency.
ESG's director-general for quality and excellence Choy Sauw Kook said: "It is important for Singapore to deepen its involvement in the global conversation on standards, to ensure that its industries contribute to the development of new international standards and meet requirements as they are launched."
