Debbie Chin, our Chief Executive, explains her view of how Standards contribute to research, and how these contributions can be further improved. We also include an online tutorial on consumer participation in Standards development, and information about the publication of AS/NZS ISO 9001:2008, with examples of some changes – see World's benchmark quality management systems Standard revised.
Touchstone is now published monthly and includes updates on New Zealand Standards in development, amendments, superseded and withdrawn NZ and AS/NZS Standards, ISO, IEC, Australian, and British Standards. You can order overseas Standards from us so please support New Zealand by purchasing through your national Standards body!
The role of Standards in research
Successful research and innovation leads to improvements in the lives of New Zealanders – whether we're focused on building homes, developing building products, creating energy efficient living space, improving construction processes, or exporting goods and services overseas. So, it's important that researchers and 'standardisers' remember who the intended 'beneficiaries' are of our work.
Research + standardisation + implementation
The OECD defines innovation as:
'the implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good or service), or process, a new marketing method, or a new organisational method in business practices, workplace organisation, or external relations.'
I've been interested to see how the South Koreans are introducing frameworks and approaches to ensure the quick diffusion of research and innovation through Standards (see Diagram).
Diagram – Source: Korean Agency for Technology and Standards. NWIP = New Work Item Proposal.
It's clear to me that putting research and innovation into action is the sum of research + standardisation + implementation. For research to be effective, it's important for commissioners of research – 'standardisers' (such as Standards New Zealand), research organisations, and industry – to collaborate and work closely together. I believe our shared goal should be to apply a robust combination of research and standardisation in a consistent and timely way, to enable and support ongoing innovation.
Standards development – a unique industry channel and forum
Standards are a way of 'exploiting' and 'operationalising' research – they provide a channel to take research into industry to be applied practically. Research and development (R&D) becomes much more relevant to industry when it is published in a Standard, particularly one that is referenced in legislation. This ensures the market takes up the Standard and applies it. Equally, there are many examples where Standards are effective voluntary and non-regulatory tools to get research and innovation into a market.
The Standards development process provides a channel for technology/R&D transfer and a forum for industry stakeholders to put research into action. Our development process enables the right participants to be involved to unleash the potential of research and innovation. Committee representatives include leading industry thinkers, academics, users, and influencers who can test R&D and enable its practical application. This generates wide acceptance of the Standards being developed.
A way to enable access to New Zealand and offshore markets
Standards also help new and innovative products gain access to markets. For example, if a product (service or good) is in line with a joint Australian (AS)/New Zealand (NZS) Standard, this enables much easier access to the Australian market, and enhances the credibility of the product.
Enabling easier access to offshore markets is another key Standards benefit. I'm aware of many examples, such as the export of 'glulam' structures into the Middle East, using AS/NZS 1328, NZS 3603, NZS 3631, and AS/NZS 1491. NZS 3604 was translated into Korean recently, helping to ensure product supply and forge stronger ties between our two countries.
So, to summarise:
- standardisation can make research and development results available to society/industry more quickly
- aligning research with Standards decreases the time to get research into action and provides guidance to create and foster industry best practice
- research projects should include a Standards interface in their plans (see Diagram from South Korea)
- the interface and synchronisation between Standards and research needs to be recognised and improved. It also needs to occur as early as possible (as shown by Diagram), and preferably, in parallel
- research projects need to allocate resources to Standards activity. For example, BRANZ is contributing research towards the revision of NZS 3604. SCION (previously Forest Research Institute) and BRANZ are conducting research on timber stress grading, which will be used in Standards
- Standards bodies – including Standards New Zealand – have the opportunity to more actively incorporate research results in Standards.
Finally, I strongly believe organisations commissioning research, industry, and 'standardisers' like Standards New Zealand, have an opportunity to synchronise our interfaces. This will deliver good value for money from research that's funded by levies, and contribute to improving the sector's productivity and innovation. I'm looking forward to working with people across all the sectors we work with to help make this happen.