The U.S. Government Has Released Its National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technologies

The United States Government has released their national standards strategy for critical and emerging technologies (CETs) which seeks to bolster US competitiveness in global standards development as well as safeguard American technology. Standards ensure that the technology we rely on is universally safe and interoperable, and the private sector can expect renewed federal support to accelerate standards efforts and promote US innovation on the international scale.

The strategy has four key objectives that will strengthen standards development. The first is increased investment in standardization research which will drive the creation of new standards, along with a call to the private sector and research institutions to match their investment. The second objective is to engage a broad spectrum of public and private stakeholders as well as foreign partners to advance US standards development activities. To keep pace with the growing number of international standards organizations, the third objective is to educate and empower different stakeholders to contribute to standards development more effectively, and the fourth objective is to ensure that the standards development process is technically rigorous and responsive to the needs of the market.

To put the strategy into place, the US will continue to rely on the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to coordinate the substantial US private sector activities and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to manage the federal government’s standard development efforts. The US has already engaged like-minded partners in the international standards community as a part of the strategy including the EU Trade and Technology Council, who have jointly launched a transatlantic informational sharing program.

Standards will continue to drive the markets of the future, and in a climate of rapid technological evolution worldwide the standards for CETs carry even greater strategic significance. Outlined in the strategy is a list of CETs the US will prioritize, among others:

• Communication and Networking Technologies
• Semiconductors and Microelectronics, including Computing, Memory, and Storage Technologies
• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
• Clean Energy Generation and Storage
• Smart Infrastructure and Internet of Things
• Automated, Connected, and Electrified Transportation
• Critical Minerals Supply Chains
• Cybersecurity and Privacy
• Carbon Capture, Removal, Utilization and Storage