That was electrotechnical standardization 2020

Purely battery-powered drive systems are increasingly being used for heavy-duty commercial vehicles. The size and weight of their traction batteries make special standards and specifications necessary to ensure higher charging capacities and yet the shortest possible charging times.

VDA|NAA and VDE DKE addressed this issue and strengthened their cooperation to promote electromobility in Germany.

In a joint workshop, requirements for charging heavy-duty vehicles were developed and corresponding standardization needs were derived. The results of the workshop were basic performance parameters to be able to realize a comprehensive plug for all areas under consideration, as well as handling aspects with regard to the plug-in system in addition to cooling. It is planned to draw up a technical specification for the new plug connection.

Established in 2013, the Quality Infrastructure Working Group serves to strengthen economic and technical cooperation, reduce technical barriers to trade and increase product safety. On the occasion of the 7th annual meeting, about 80 participants met in New Delhi this year.

With the signing of the Work Plan 2020, it was agreed to intensify Indo-German cooperation on standardization, technical regulation, certification and market surveillance in important economic areas such as electromobility or cybersecurity.

Florian Spiteller underlined several times during the forum the importance of international standardization as well as the Global Relevance Toolbox to integrate national specificities internationally. The resulting inclusion of the stronger promotion of the Toolbox in the

Florian Spiteller underlined several times during the forum the importance of international standardization as well as the Global Relevance Toolbox to integrate national specificities internationally. The resulting inclusion of the stronger promotion of the Toolbox in the Working Group's work plan was a success for IEC and international standardization at this point.

Years ago, broadband expansion in Germany was almost exclusively based on copper cables, but today it no longer enables sufficient data transmission for certain use cases. 5G or autonomous driving require faster communications technologies such as fiber optic networks, but these are not yet widespread enough in Germany.

To promote the expansion of fiber optics, challenges such as a shortage of skilled workers must be eliminated and economic issues clarified. A number of projects have already been launched to this end.

The "Skilled workers for fiber optic rollout" project, for example, addresses the shortage of skilled workers. In the fourth quarter of this year, this also resulted in the initiative "Gremienverbund Breitband," with which the rbv, VDE DKE and ZVEH are standardizing broadband training courses and driving forward the qualification of specialists.

In light of the Corona pandemic, the demand for ventilators was higher than ever before. To assist medical device manufacturers with production, many engineers, technicians, medical professionals, and even the automotive industry joined forces to develop cost-effective emergency ventilators and the individual parts they require.

Since standards and specifications are necessary for the safety of medical devices as well as personnel and patients, VDE, VDE VERLAG and VDE DKE are making selected medical technology standards available free of charge in the NormenBibliothek until further notice.

As a further measure to safeguard medical devices, the VDE also offers medical facilities a quick, free check for medical devices and protective equipment.

With the VDE SPEC, the VDE has created a rule that can be made available and used much faster. With agile and flexible implementation, a VDE SPEC can already be realized within 10 days and with only three project partners, as well as being usable free of charge.

When developing a VDE SPEC, the strict rules of standardization do not apply: there does not have to be a general consensus towards the VDE SPEC and the entire public does not have to be involved in the process. The VDE SPEC thus strongly accommodates dynamic markets as well as solutions that need to be made known quickly in the market.

Already early after the introduction of the VDE SPEC as a new VDE product, first VDE SPECs have been developed and published.

With his many years of European and international experience in standardization, testing and conformity assessment, as well as his professional career in the VDE, Wolfgang Niedziella has the necessary all-round view and very important knowledge of the electrical industry. This now represents a large part of world trade, which enables Wolfgang Niedziella to contribute enormously to international competitiveness in European standardization.

Wolfgang Niedziella's goal is also to strengthen Europe in the subject areas of AI, smart energy, smart manufacturing and smart home, and to highlight the relevance of standardization as a strategic tool. After all, European standardization not only strengthens global competitiveness and the European Single Market - its importance for product safety and the well-being of citizens has also been demonstrated in times of the COVID crisis.

The guide is one of the first VDE SPECs to be added to the VDE product range since May this year.

With the spread of the wolf in Germany, the livestock damage caused by it is also increasing. For this reason, the expert committee DKE/AK 511.15.2 has drawn up a guide to help all grazing livestock owners erect electric fences and provide information on the possibility of grants or compensation payments.

Publishing the guide as a VDE SPEC benefits the dynamics to which natural processes are subject. For example, prey predators and animals are constantly developing new strategies to survive. This can lead to the need for extended measures to protect grazing animals.

The standardization roadmap aims to highlight the current state of standardization, challenges and solutions for smart home & living. The topic is divided into six domains: health, home comfort, smart home infrastructure, energy management, home security and information security.

The domains illustrate the high level of connectivity in the smart home. For example, a shutter control system can influence living comfort and energy management in equal measure by communicating with lighting and automatically dimming or switching off lights.

The "Creative Dialog" in February was the kick-off event for further domain workshops in which experts exchanged views on challenges, solutions, training profiles and political framework conditions in order to pass on work assignments to politicians and associations.

Around 850 participants from all over Europe took part in the virtual workshop "Strengthening European standards and specifications - Impetus for the Green Deal" organized by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) to contribute to the green transformation of the EU economy. In the end, everyone agreed: The Green Deal can only succeed with standardization and joint dialogue as well as trust are the keys to success!

In order to implement the "Circular Economy Action Plan" as one of the main components of the Green Deal, a high-level group is to be established for cooperation between politics and standardization, in order to identify standardization needs and to create technical framework conditions in parallel with political decision-making. The bottom-up approach is desired here: clear objectives by the Commission, but procedural details by the standardization experts.

The whitepaper is the result of the BMWi-funded project "Ethical Aspects in Standardization for Artificial Intelligence in Autonomous Machines and Vehicles".

The aim of the project was to present the current status of standardization in the interdisciplinary field of AI and ethics and to identify possible future fields of action for standardization. Central question: How can people trust artificial intelligence?

Several expert workshops were held to develop the white paper, starting with the kick-off event in April 2019. The results of the white paper were compiled, evaluated and incorporated into the planned standardization roadmap "Artificial Intelligence".

The Digital Summit on November 30 marked the conclusion of work on the joint AI standardization roadmap of DIN and DKE, which was presented to German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the event.

With the standardization roadmap, Germany is the first country in the world to present a comprehensive analysis of the stock of and need for international standards and specifications for artificial intelligence, which is considered a key technology for competitiveness across industries and countries.

The standardization roadmap aims to provide recommendations for standardization around AI in order to strengthen German industry and science in international competition, create innovation-friendly conditions and build trust in AI technology.

The highlights of Standardization 2020 have shown once again how lucky we are to have such an interested, loyal community at our side. We have all experienced a lot and achieved a lot! Now, for once, it's time to put our feet up and look back at all that we were able to accomplish despite this year's extraordinary situation.

We would like to thank you for your interest and commitment over the past few months. Standardization thrives on its community, and we have once again been able to see that we can build on everyone's support - a gift that has decisively strengthened DKE and standardization.

You have contributed significantly to the success of DKE and we are proud to continue to drive standardization forward together with you in the coming year.