Coordination in the U.S. Standardization System

Introduction

Among ANSI’s key roles in the U.S. standardization system is to provide a neutral forum for coordination and identification of standards and conformity assessment needs in support of emerging technologies and national/global priorities. To achieve this, ANSI establishes standardization collaboratives, holds stakeholder workshops, and convenes other activities to bring together relevant stakeholders to assess and address standardization needs in a particular industry or technology area.

Standardization Collaboratives

A standardization collaborative is a mechanism established by ANSI to advance cross-sector coordination in the development and compatibility of the standards and conformance programs needed to support and grow emerging technologies and markets.

ANSI establishes standardization collaboratives when a clear need is expressed by the Institute’s membership, be it industry, government, and/or the broader standardization community.

These collaboratives help to inform stakeholder resource allocation for standards participation, avoid duplication of effort, and drive efficient and coordinated standardization activity by standards development organizations (SDOs).

Specifically, ANSI collaboratives work to:

Coordinate the efforts of the private and public sectors, with the engagement of all interested stakeholder groups
Identify existing standards and standards in development
Define where standardization gaps exist based on stakeholder needs
Recommend additional work needed, a timeline for its completion, and organizations that can perform the work – often via the development of a standardization roadmap
Provide progress updates on any roadmap recommendations