Today, the technical, economic and regulatory importance of standards is no longer questioned. Standards allow complex technical systems to interoperate, they extend or even create markets and have been an important tool in the establishment of the European single market. The underlying standardization process provides a platform for pre-competitive co-operation and can support open innovation.
The Advances in Standardization Research (ASR) Book Series seeks to advance the available literature on the development, characteristics, deployment and value of standards. Highly multi-disciplinary standardization research provides deeper insight into the ways standards shape the environment within which they function and how, in turn, their development is shaped by the respective institutional and procedural environment. The series thus helps to better utilize standards for the improvement of organizational processes in both the private and the public sector. It also contributes to a better understanding of standardization processes and should thus enable a more effective and efficient development of more useful standards.