Welcome & Introduction Standards, open standards and Interoperability ETSI, Sophia Antipolis, 26 May 2005 Welcome & Introduction Effective cross-border services, steady goals, evolving means?  Karsten Meinhold, Chairman of the General Assembly, Karl Heinz Rosenbrock, DG ETSI

ETSI Focus A not-for-profit association, created in 1988 637 Members worldwide ICT Standards making and associated services Track record of global standards/interoperability Focus Global focus, roots in Europe Infrastructures > Middleware > Applications Convergence (telecom/IT/MM; Fixed/mobile) Partnerships Interoperability (profiling, testing, standards Integration)

Setting the scene: ICT environment ICT traditionally R&D dependent ICT industry increasingly software intensive Convergence Telecoms/IT/Broadcast/entertainment ICT standardization > From few to many Interoperability is the name of the game, getting much more complex to engineer

Setting the scene: questions to address Can interoperability be context dependent? Does “usage driven standardization” request new interoperability schemes? What is “open”? What are the impacts of open source on ICT standardization? How to stimulate and reward innovation without hindering market entry and competition? Is openness IPR policy dependent? IPR policy: can one size fit all?

Why ETSI embarks on this initiative (1) ETSI  637 Members from industry, policy makers, regulators, administrations, trade associations, users ETSI, a track record of industrial hits based on open standards ETSI, an arena to discuss and progress together ETSI, an IPR policy that has proven effective and efficient. In a rapidly changing environment, a need to adapt?

Why ETSI embarks on this initiative (2) Current debates show Common overall objective (INTEROPERABILITY) some fundamental misunderstandings Current debates involve industry, policy makers, regulators, administrations, trade associations, users A responsibility to be pro-active and propose solutions We believe in dialogue and cooperation between open minds

Today’s special Specify issues and set priorities Identify elements of response in today’s presentations and discussions Launch joint work on such key topics as appropriate Another hearing foreseen to gather additional viewpoints and to address remaining issues (WTO, DG Comp, Asia Pacific SDOs, global fora, ISO/IEC…) 21 October 2005

Most important than a dogmatic worldview – nothing more constraining, Nothing is more dangerous than a dogmatic worldview – nothing more constraining, more blinding to innovation, more destructive of openness to novelty. Stephen Jay Gould Evolutionary biologist

The alternative: 2004 Palme d’or of best complexity analysis “There are no knowns. There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns - that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know but there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don't know. So when we do the best we can and we pull all this information together, and we then say well that's basically what we see as the situation, that is really only the known knowns and the known unknowns. And each year we discover a few more of those unknown unknowns”