IEC General Meeting 2021 entrance hall
| IECLast year, due to the pandemic the IEC General Meeting only took place online. This year, we are able to look back on a more different, special and innovative event with a mix of digital and analog formats.
The event offered all participants and attendees the chance to experience on the spot important events and changes that will lay the foundation for the future development of international standardization.
Jo Cops was elected the new IEC president at the 2021 IEC General Meeting.
| IECCongratulations to Jo Cops, our European IEC President candidate. With the three key objectives “Growth”, “Market” and “Digital” for his tenure, he was unanimously elected the new IEC President. From January 2022, he will serve President-elect to succeed Dr. Shu afterwards from January 2023.
During the IEC General Meeting, the IEC Council Board and Council discussed and approved the new IEC structure. The new structure will remove the zigzag situation and alleviate the complexity perceived by members in today’s governance. Among others, a Business Advisory Committee has been created to consolidate the advisory functions for more efficient and transparent decision making.
As Young Professionals of Next Generation DKE Lea Emmel und Jakob Betz participated the 2021 IEC General Meetings in Dubai.
| Annette FrederiksenA total of four German young professionals attended the IEC General Meeting in Dubai. Two of them participated on site and two remotely.
Young Professionals are the future of standardization. This was proved by Lea Emmel when she was elected as IEC Young Professionals Leader at the IEC General Meeting.
As a Young Professional of the Next Generation DKE she will play a key role in drawing attention and strengthening relationships in German and international standardization.
We wish Lea all the best and great experiences in her new position!
In addition to personal events and awards, all participants of the IEC General Meeting 2021 could take part in interesting lectures and workshops. In line with the hybrid design of the entire event, these workshops also took place in this completely new format - young and experienced standards experts were able to interact with each other live on site as well as digitally.
IEC Bootcamp participants collaborated both on-site and digitally.
| IECOriginally, the IEC Bootcamp is a concept of the Next Generation DKE. It is a live simulation of an IEC standards project in which standardization interested people and standards experts are introduced to the international standardization process. Starting with the standardization process by acting out relevant IEC TC situations, including strategic decision-making, to meetings and objection consultations to the use of collaboration tools of an IEC body the participants get to know every standardization process step.
The concept created an enormous demand and is now so successful that it has been adopted internationally by the IEC in the form of the IEC Bootcamp.
At the IEC General Meeting, the IEC Bootcamp "Standard in a day" was held hybrid for 110 participants, of which 42 participated on-site and 68 remotely. The participants were able to learn successfully in one day how the standardization process works, how to draft and comment on a standard and how to reach a consensus and leadership in a team of experts through an intensive mix of lecture, breakout sessions and role play.
Special thanks go to the team of facilitators for the smooth running of the workshop!
The IEC Academy & Capacity Building is to support National Committees, IEC Regional Centres and other IEC Departments to build knowledge, skills and enthusiasm within the IEC community and beyond.
With the IEC Academy Day, the objectives of the program could also be furthered at the IEC General Meeting, and the DKE was actively involved in this.
Corresponding the topic of the day session “2022 and beyond: the new normal“, Florian Spiteller, Head of External Relations & Support DKE, gave a presentation on the topic “Germany and the New Normal – engaging stakeholders under pandemic conditions and learnings for the time beyond”.
At the end, the most important results from the German Standards Panel and the DKE Mentoring program were presented. The DKE Mentoring is a new program of the Next Generation DKE for new and more experienced standards exerts. Experts with longer experience in international standardization serve mentees as mentors, so that these can prepare themselves in depth for the committee work and close knowledge gaps.
In addition to various best practices from many countries, everyone agreed on one key result: In the pandemic, we need to keep an eye on the topic of "social capital“. We need to address the question of which formats we can use for hybrid exchange, because we can't do it only online. Even if digital exchange offers advantages and can create lively participation, a community must also be able to meet and exchange ideas locally. This requires appropriate concepts and an agile community that is able to accept both digital and analog offers in a mix.
Important discussions took place at the meeting of IEC Council Board.
| IECDKE was actively involved in the SMB, CAB, Council Board (CB) and Council meetings by sending various representatives there.
At the SMB and CAB meetings, which took place over two days each, there were good and lively discussions even though more than half of the participants were connected online.
The CB meeting discussed and decided on SMART Standards, risk framework and IEC Foundation Projects, all of which are essential for the future work and visibility of the IEC in the face of new challenges and opportunities.
After such a long time, it is increasingly difficult to keep one's distance. Still, the IEC General Meeting 2021 in its first hybrid version was a complete success. Everyone agreed: finally seeing each other again, in real and in color, was something very special.
The host Dubai put a lot of effort into a smooth process, so that the reunion in the community after such a long pandemic period was all the more enjoyable, even if only partially on site. We are glad to have been part of this meeting as DKE.
The next IEC General Meeting is already in planning. Save the date "October 31 - November 04, 2022" - then in San Francisco!
More information about the IEC General Meeting 2022 you can find at https://www.ansi.org/usnc-iec/programs-activities/2022-general-meeting
