Standardisation with Chinese Characteristics?
Standardisation with Chinese Characteristics: The Missing Pillar in Europe’s Industrial Policy
More than 100 participants — both online and on-site — gathered for the launch of “Standardisation with Chinese characteristics? The Missing Pillar in Rebooting Europe’s Industrial Policy”, a new report by The Clingendael Institute. Some even dialled in from their holidays, underlining just how important and timely this topic is.
I had the privilege of working as both expert and author on this report, alongside the fantastic Clingendael team — Alexandre Ferreira Gomes and Maaike Okano-Heijmans. Together, we explored one of the least discussed yet most strategic dimensions of industrial competitiveness: standardisation.
Why This Matters
In today’s geopolitical environment, technical standards are far more than a dry, bureaucratic exercise. They are instruments of economic power, shaping markets, influencing supply chains, and, in some cases, determining the rules of the game for entire industries.
The report addresses Europe’s challenge: while China has built a highly coordinated, strategic approach to standardisation — embedding it into industrial policy, foreign policy, and technology development — Europe’s own system remains fragmented.
Two recommendations stand out for my standardisation intelligence community:
- Building a Dutch National Standardisation Platform (p. 50)
A coordinated national platform could bring together government, industry, and academia to share intelligence, monitor Chinese standardisation activities, and identify divergences in technical standards before they become strategic risks. This means tracking newsletters from Standard Development Organisations (SDOs), analysing technical committee proposals, and extracting critical data points from standards documents — exactly the kind of work we at LIA are doing today. - Developing Data Analytics-Driven Intelligence Tools (p. 45–46)
Europe needs better visibility on who is shaping standards, where, and in which technologies. Current information is scattered and hard to piece together. A dedicated platform for monitoring global standardisation trends, especially those driven by China, could empower European stakeholders to align strategies and act collectively. Again — this is precisely where LIA’s expertise comes in.
Industry Snapshots
The report doesn’t just deal with abstract strategy. It includes sector-specific insights, such as ICT and EV chips — two fields where standardisation choices today could decide tomorrow’s market leaders.
The Bigger Picture
This is about more than technical specifications. It’s about Europe’s ability to compete in a world where standards are strategic assets, and where falling behind means ceding influence over the technologies that will define the future.
If you’re interested in the intersection of industrial policy, geopolitics, and standardisation — especially when it comes to China — the Clingendael report offers essential insights and concrete recommendations.
📄 Read the full report here
💬 And if you want to know how LIA is already putting these recommendations into practice — just ask me.
