IEC Launches Centenary Challenge

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has announced the launch of the IEC Centenary Challenge, a competition for papers on the economic, business and social impact of International Standards on business. The IEC, which is celebrating its centenary in 2006, is organizing the competition in partnership with The Economist, and leading professional engineering bodies – the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies (VDE). The competition is open to anyone affiliated with an academic institute, including members of faculty, individual professors, heads of faculty, and teaching or research staff.

Announcing the launch, Ronnie Amit, IEC’s CEO and General Secretary, said: “While bodies such as the World Trade Organization acknowledge the role and importance of International Standards, very little work has been done at the academic level to explain their importance for business. With the IEC Centenary Challenge, we hope to bring out the best in today’s thinking on this and generate some incisive analysis about the economic impact of International Standards.”

Approved papers will be judged by a panel of leaders from business, academia, government and the media:

• Dr. Arden L. Bement, Jr, Director, U.S. National Science Foundation;
• Tom Standage, Technology Editor, The Economist;
• Dr. Takuo Sugano, Professor Emeritus, Tokyo University, and Chairman, Board of Trustees, Toyo University; and
• Prof. Klaus Wucherer, Member, Central Managing Board, Siemens AG.

Prizes of $15,000, $5,000 and $2,000 (US) will be awarded to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places, respectively.

All registration forms, rules and further information are available from www.iecchallenge.org. Registration is open from Noon (Central European Summer Time) on October 21, 2005, until Midnight (Central European Time) on Friday March 3, 2006. Final papers must be submitted through the IEC Centenary Challenge website by Midnight (CEST) on Friday September 1, 2006. The Awards Ceremony will be held in London at the IEE, Savoy Place, London, UK, on December 14, 2006.