Small Business Standards yesterday celebrated its fifth birthday in style with a cocktail held in the European Parliament’s MEP Lounge, in Brussels.
SBS was officially launched on 25 October 2013 as an international non-profit association. Today it represents the interests of 12 million SMEs in the standardisation process, through 20 SME member organisations.
The event was supported and hosted by MEP and IMCO Vice Chair Anna Maria Corazza Bildt. It kicked off with a welcome and introduction by Gunilla Almgren, SBS President and was followed by lively speeches from Kerstin Jorna, Deputy Director-General, DG Economic and Financial Affairs, European Commission, and from Hans-Olaf Henkel, MEP and ITRE Vice Chair. Both commended SBS for its hard work in standardisation over the last half-decade, while looking forward to further successes on behalf of all European SMEs going forward.
A key message from SBS during the event was a call for the European institutions to schedule a European standardisation year. This would enable them to flag up the specific issue of standardisation. An official standardisation year would also raise Europeans’ awareness of the importance of harmonised standards, with a view to further shaping standards that benefit everybody.