A mid-size sensor manufacturer has developed a measurement method that it believes should become part of an emerging industry standard. If the standard is written without the company's input, it may favour competitors' approaches; if the company helps shape it, its technology becomes part of the reference the whole market follows. The obstacle is the cost in time and travel of sitting on national and international standards committees.
WIPANO (Wissens- und Technologietransfer durch Patente und Normen) funds standardisation as well as patenting. Its standardisation strand supports companies that actively join national, European or international standards bodies such as DIN and DKE, CEN and CENELEC, or ISO and IEC, provided they were not active in such committees in the last three years. It reimburses travel, standardisation management and research, and the drafting of application rules and specification documents, and adds a personnel cost flat rate for committee work.
The grant reaches up to about 70 percent of eligible costs, up to roughly EUR 45,000, to be drawn within 36 months. Companies up to around 1,000 staff and EUR 100 million turnover are eligible. The programme is run through the Juelich project management agency, with applications via the easy-Online portal.
This is exactly what the standardisation strand is for. As a company that had not previously been active in standardisation, the manufacturer qualified. The funding covered the practical cost of the engineers' committee participation, travel, the standardisation work and the preparation of the technical contributions, plus a personnel cost flat rate. The grant reached up to about 70 percent of eligible costs, up to roughly EUR 45,000 over the funding period, to be drawn within 36 months. Because the company had not been active in standards committees in the previous three years, it met the condition that targets this strand at companies entering standardisation for the first time, and the personnel flat rate covered part of the engineers' time in the committees.
A €45k WIPANO grant.
The return is strategic rather than financial. Helping to write the test and interface standards for a new technology can accelerate the whole market and position the company's method as the reference. The company gains influence on the rules its market will follow, at a fraction of the cost it would otherwise have carried alone.
Standardisation · up to 70% of eligible costsA company with a technology that could shape a future standard should not leave the committee work to others. WIPANO makes active participation affordable, and the influence gained, being in the room where the standards are written, is often worth far more than the grant itself.
The questions we hear most about the programme. Short answer first, detail after.
Active participation in national, European and international standards committees (DIN, DKE, CEN, CENELEC, ISO, IEC), including travel, standardisation work and drafting.
A grant of up to about 70 percent of eligible costs, up to roughly EUR 45,000, within 36 months.
Companies up to around 1,000 staff and EUR 100 million turnover that were not active in standards committees in the last three years.
Helping write the standards positions a company's own method as the reference the market follows.
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