On May 4, the Biden-Harris Administration announced the publication of a U.S. Government National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology (CET) at a White House Summit of standardization knowledge leaders from the public and private sectors. The strategy commits to increasing U.S. government support for the private sector–led standards system, and calls out its alignment with the United States Standards Strategy published by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
ANSI president and CEO Joe Bhatia commended the Administration, the National Security Council (NSC), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for their work “developing a comprehensive document that well articulates issues, objectives, and lines of effort aimed at enhancing U.S. engagement in standardization related to CET…and clearly outlines the importance of the public-private-sector partnership.”
The government strategy stresses the importance of ensuring that the “rules of the road” for CET standards embrace transparency, openness, impartiality and consensus, effectiveness and relevance, coherence, and broad participation—to support standards that are technologically sound and help American industry compete on a level playing field. It recommends increased engagement in international standards for CET and outlines how government will prioritize efforts for a subset of CET essential to U.S. competitiveness and national security.
At Thursday’s White House Summit in a panel on “Standards Development to Address Global Challenges,” Bhatia shared ANSI’s perspectives on U.S. priorities in standardization: “The open, rules-based standards system—following globally accepted principles for standards development—fosters growth, innovation, and opportunity,” said Bhatia. “That’s why ANSI prioritizes active U.S. engagement and leadership in international venues like ISO and IEC…to assure the integrity of the standards development process built on fairness, open participation, and consensus.”
NIST has developed a page of informational resources on the National Standards Strategy, including fact sheets and a link to ANSI’s U.S. Standards Strategy. Requests for comments on the implementation and announcements of informational events will be posted to NIST’s page and shared by ANSI in the coming months.
“ANSI looks forward to working closely with NIST as a key implementing partner,” said Bhatia in a call with the strategy’s leadership team.
Access the U.S. Government National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology and related NIST resources.
View the White House Summit video.
NIST's Laurie Locascio presents the National Standards Strategy.
ANSI's Joe Bhatia (center) speaks at the White House Summit.