Press releases

Supporting agrifood systems through international standards Agritechnica 2023: DIN and ISO join forces to present standardization roadmap on smart farming

( 2023-11-10 ) Though the use of modern information and communication technologies, smart farming promises to boost productivity and efficiency in agriculture. For networking to function across the entire agrifood value chain, standards and specifications are key. They specify interfaces and uniform data formats and allow open access to new technologies. More

Sustainability reporting with standards How ISO and CEN Standards can help in meeting the reporting requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)

( 2023-10-31 ) Effective January 2023, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) came into effect as a new EU directive on sustainability reporting, building on the previously implemented Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD). The primary objective of the CSRD is to bring sustainability reporting on par with financial reporting. To comply with the CSRD requirements, the reporting requirements of the Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) must also be followed. Throughout 2024, the CSRD will be phased in. This directive ensures that a significantly larger group of companies in the European Union is required to report on sustainability. As a result of the CSRD's reporting requirements expansion, the number of companies subject to the regulations is projected to rise from roughly 11,600 to 49,000 across the EU. More

World Standards Day: From Climate Protection to AI – How Standards build trust

( 2023-10-10 ) On World Standards Day, the benefits of standardization are celebrated every year on October 14. Because one thing is clear: Standards make life easier. They make it possible for bank cards to fit into the slots provided or the copy paper into printers all over the world. Most people don't notice standards too much in their everyday lives – because almost everything fits together and functions smoothly. In the background, however, they ensure that the world is as comfortable and safe as we know it. They define requirements for products, services or processes and thus ensure, for example, that our drinking water is hygienically safe for children and adults. Standards drive the transformation More than 250 years ago, technical standards already helped the industrial revolution achieve a breakthrough and eased the transition from manual labor to machine production in factories. With the digital and green transformation, similarly large tasks lie ahead of us today. In order to be ... More

Breakthrough in SMART Standards DIN and DKE successfully complete first pilot projects under the Digital Standards Initiative (IDiS)

( 2023-09-12 ) Up to now, the application and use of standards has required many individual manual steps. The information from the corresponding standard has to be captured, extracted and transferred to other systems by humans to the greatest possible extent. The Digital Standards Initiative (IDiS) of DIN and DKE is therefore of crucial importance when it comes to improving the competitiveness of German industry: What if standards content is digitally prepared and can be read and applied by both humans and machines? Several times now, it has been possible to demonstrate live in operation how SMART standard content is read and applied independently by a machine. The demonstration is the result of one of the pilot projects within IDiS. In the development of SMART standards, DIN and DKE focus on practical application scenarios. Companies provide the technical expertise for the standards content and are at the same time the users. For this reason, various pilots on specific use cases were created ... More

COP 27

( 2022-11-07 ) Stopping climate change is one of the most pressing tasks of our time. As a global challenge needs global solutions, there is increasing focus on international cooperation. Starting today until 18 November 2022, the 27th UN Climate Change Conference will be held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt (COP 27). Under the motto “Together for Implementation”, the two-week international conference will focus on concrete implementation steps resulting from the previous joint declarations of intent and goals. ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, of which DIN is a member will also be there. International standards and specifications play a decisive role as an instrument for implementing climate protection commitments. The widespread adoption and use of relevant international standards will help policy makers, business and society adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change and accelerate the transition to a greenhouse-neutral economy. Standardization provides a platform ... More

World Standards Day 2022 Shared vision for a better world

( 2022-10-14 ) The international standards organizations ISO, IEC and ITU and their national members celebrate World Standards Day every year on October 14. In this way, the standards organizations focus on the joint work of experts active in standardization worldwide. Around 36,000 experts from German business, science, the public sector and civil society are involved in DIN's 69 standards committees. Their work makes a significant contribution to meeting the challenges of the digital and green transformation, ensuring that new technologies, products and processes become established on the market and in society. Focus on Sustainable Development Goals The motto of this year’s World Standards Day is a “SHARED VISION FOR A BETTER WORLD” with a focus on the benefits of standards for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With the SDGs, the member states of the United Nations have set themselves 17 goals aimed at reducing social inequalities, promoting a sustainable economy and slowing ... More

The basic principle of the A-series.
© DIN

Happy birthday, A4! Paper has been standardized according to the A-series for 100 years

( 2022-08-01 ) It fits in any printer, copier and folder — the world’s possibly best-known paper size is celebrating its 100th birthday. On 18 August 1922, the German Institute for Standardization (DIN) published the standard DIN 476 "Trimmed sizes of paper", and set a benchmark with sizes such as A4 and A5 that went on to become a model of success in almost all corners of the world. The specified dimensions have withstood the test of time to this day and are defined in the International Standard DIN EN ISO 216. From a chaotic array of sizes through to a standard Paper sizes have had a chequered history, with different approaches and specifications dating back to as early as the 14th century. In the late 18th century, the aspect ratio 1:√2 was proposed for the first time; a format that was apparently deemed as aesthetically pleasing, but which was to be soon forgotten again shortly afterwards. At the beginning of the 20th century, and after various developmental stages and attempts to ... More

DIN and DKE make great progress in achieving digital standards and standardization Cooperation with Russia at various levels suspended until further notice

( 2022-05-31 ) DIN and DKE have made great progress in developing digital standards. The joint IDiS (Digital Standards Initiative) network group has now described eleven cases that provide good examples of how to apply standards. The aim here is to identify the requirements that digital standards need to meet. The IDiS experts will be presenting their results in a new white paper at the Hannover Messe. Encouragingly, the idea of a national stakeholder group for SMART standards (IDiS) has also met with great international approval. For example, the International Organization for Standardization ISO and its counterpart for electrical engineering IEC are now paying increased attention to SMART standards. “We have gathered application cases from across Germany, and our European and international partners have followed suit. IDiS demonstrates how to make coordinated collaboration between standardization organizations and standard users a success. After all, we need a common understanding of SMART ... More

Standardization is driving climate protection efforts Publication of the 2022 German Standardization Panel’s results

( 2022-05-24 ) Standards are an important tool for tackling climate change; the results of the 2022 German Standards Panel, which is under the patronage of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), also reflect this. Dr. Franziska Brantner, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, explains, “Standards can make an important contribution to making a climate-neutral and sustainable economy a reality. They help companies to comply with technical regulations and open up new markets for climate-neutral and sustainable products.” She adds, “We can only succeed in the fight against climate change if we are part of an international alliance. This is why the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action is also focusing on standardization during the German G7 Presidency.” The study shows standards are key for tackling climate change and driving the green transformation. Around 75 percent of the companies surveyed ... More

Prof. Alexander Kurz, Executive Board Member and Vice President for Innovation, Transfer and IP Management at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and Christoph Winterhalter, DIN Executive Board Chairman, sign the cooperation agreement.
© Christian Kruppa

Stronger integration of standardization and research DIN and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft sign a cooperation agreement

( 2022-05-11 ) The German Institute for Standardization (DIN) and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft are further expanding their cooperation as regards standardization as a transfer instrument for future technologies. The two organizations have concluded a cooperation agreement to this end: Christoph Winterhalter, DIN Executive Board Chairman, and Prof. Dr. Alexander Kurz, Member of the Executive Board of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Vice President Innovation, Transfer and IP Management, and member of the DIN Presidial Board, signed the document on May 11, 2022, on the occasion of a meeting of the "DINalog" discussion series with members of the German Bundestag in Berlin. With this cooperation, Fraunhofer and DIN are also addressing the EU Standardization Strategy, which was published at the beginning of February 2022. The strategy aims to strengthen the EU's global competitiveness, facilitate the shift toward a resilient, green and digital economy, and embed democratic values in technology applications. More

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