Also called the International Standards Day, World Standards Day is celebrated annually on October 14. The day marks the importance of making the consumers, regulators, and industry aware of the significance of standardization.
The day celebrates the achievements of scientists and experts around the world to develop voluntary standards under standards development organizations: International Organisation for Standards (ISO), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
World Standards Day History and Significance
October 3 was marked to commemorate the first delegates gathering in 1965 from 25 countries in London. It was at this time that they proposed to create an international organization for standardization. Later the next year, ISO was created in 1947 but the first World Standards Day was celebrated in 1970.
The router that we use daily might be made in India and the smartphone in China. The chipset inside both of them might be from Japan. But do you know why do they all work perfectly fine even after being assembled from different parts of the world? It is all because of the standardization of frequencies.
In a world with rapid globalization, we see exporting and importing from all across the globe and standardization is important to maintain that trade. It helps in removing the technical challenges that we may face while seeking our goals.
With the increasing global population, we are already dealing with issues like climate change that need to be addressed urgently. Standardization can play a pivotal role in overcoming all of these challenges. Standardized ideas and methods can help us in saving energy, and improve water and air quality. This can make the environment a better place to live in.
World Standards Day is a step for making standardization a necessity. It honors the severals scientists and experts involved in making this possible.
World Standards Day 2023 Theme
The UN has 17 Sustainable Development goals (SDGs) to end social issues like poverty, improve the overall lives of humans, and protect the planet. The goals were adopted by the member states in 2015 under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
This year’s theme of World Standards Day 2023 is ‘Shared Vision for a Better World – Standards for Sustainable Development Goals’.
Here is a list of previous years’ themes:
2022- Shared Vision for a Better World
2021- Standards for Sustainable Development Goals
2020 – Protecting the world with standards
2019- Video standards create a global stage
2018- International Standards and the fourth industrial revolution
2017- Smart Health: Using Intelligent Systems to improve the quality and delivery of health care in a more integrated, focused approach.
2016- Standards Build Trust
How is World Standards Day Celebrated?
The day is celebrated differently in different countries. Several exhibitions are conducted during this day and people from different industries, education departments, entertainment world participate in the same.
Conferences held worldwide are also a part of the celebration. Stalwarts from the business industries also contribute and are honored with leadership awards.
Representatives from different industries participate in trade and present different ideas to boost up trade and commerce.
Other events include competitions, demonstrations, standardization of supply chains, etc. In India, the ‘Bureau of Indian Standards’ celebrates this day with conferences, exhibitions, and expos all across the country.
Interesting Facts On World Standards Day
- The IEC was originally formed in 1906. All batteries, solar energy devices, semiconductors, fiber optics receive their standardization from IEC.
- ISO was created in 1947 to look after industrial and commercial standardization requirements. The ISO has offices worldwide in more than 164 countries.
- ITU regulates the telecommunication sector. All the telecommunication systems like mobile phones, internet, television networks, all conform to ITU standards.
- IEEE was established in 1963 and regulated several branches of Engineering.
- The IETF looks after the standardization of TCP/IP internet protocol regimes.
- ISO and ITU are prominently present in Geneva, Switzerland.
