The forum was organised by the IP Institute (IPI) and the Centre for European Law and Economics (CELEC) and included standards specialists from academia, industry and government.

It was held amid signs that the European Commission is taking a greater interest in standards-setting.

Christopher Stothers of the IPI told Managing IP the conference was an initial attempt to “look at the standards system more holistically”, including “what’s working and what’s not”.

He added that participants discussed how standards-setting works in practice and what can be done to ensure that standards are developed efficiently: “The goal is not IP in itself, but IP is a key part of it.”

One issue that those present emphasised, he said, was the importance of trust. In particular, Stothers said that winning the trust of consumers where there are competing standards (such as VHS and Betamax) is crucial.

The European Commission’s Enterprise and Industry directorate is responsible for looking into how the standard-setting system can be improved in Europe, and published an action plan in June this year.

The EU Council published its conclusions on standardisation and innovation in September this year.

Some observers believe the Commission might seek to influence standards-setting, for example by promoting the agreement of licence terms before the standard is adopted, as well as through its procurement practice.

It is possible that a White Paper on the subject will be published within the next year.

Stothers said that the forum participants wanted to ensure that any improvements made would help accomplish the goals of standardisation.

“Where it makes sense, we might organise other events focusing on some of the issues raised more precisely,” he added.

Find out more about the standards-setting forum, and see a video of the forum, at the Talk Standards website.