Standardisation is emerging as a strategic battleground in global technological competition. Once confined to the realm of technical experts and engineers, standard-setting now plays a central role in shaping industrial ecosystems, global trade, interoperability, innovation flows and dependencies embedded in digital infrastructures and applications, ranging from 5G to AI chips and from steel quality to digital public passports. As the geopolitical dimension of technology becomes more pronounced, the ability to influence standards is a key driver to competitiveness and sovereignty.
Europe has historically occupied a central position in international standardisation, starting from the founding of the Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union (ITU) way back in 1865. While the European Standardisation Strategy of 2022 signalled newfound political attention on the topic, the current posture of the EU and its Member States remains out of step with the pace and coordination of other global actors – mainly China. Through an integrated strategy that connects domestic industrial policy and foreign affairs through long-term planning, China has transformed from a reactive standards-taker into a proactive standards-maker since 2018. Initiatives such as ‘China Standards 2035’, in tandem with the Belt and Road Initiative, have enabled China to align industrial champions, state institutions and global diplomacy behind a shared objective: embedding Chinese standards in the global economy of tomorrow.
The European Union and its Member States remain largely reactive. Despite a strong base in research, industry and international engagement, the EU’s 2022 standardisation strategy still lacks key implementation steps. Its approach is fragmented, under-resourced and slow to align technical influence with broader economic and political goals. As a result, Europe risks ceding control over future rule-making processes in areas ranging from digital communications to automotive chips.
This report argues that Europe must see standardisation not as a niche technical field, but as a key site of geopolitical contestation and opportunity. Its focus is on the key challenger and the key domains: China and rapidly developing technologies that shape digital societies and economies. Building on an analysis of the main standard-setting organisations, the focus turns to the strategic design and consequences of China’s state-led approach to standardisation. A key characteristic of the Chinese government’s approach lies in the push and empowerment of companies and experts as key players in standard-setting organisations and in the roll-out of technologies through its Digital Silk Road.
Zooming in on the domains of telecommunications and the internet, and electric vehicle chips, two industry snapshots present more detailed insights into the newly emerging power balance in the relevant standardisation bodies and processes. Taken together, these call attention to China’s incorporation of standardisation into its strategic priorities with the aim of asserting economic and normative leadership in global markets.
To reassert European strength in this field, the report then offers a five-pronged approach that builds on the three pillars of Europe’s Economic Security Strategy of 2023. This Blueprint for Action on standardisation centres on programming, promoting, protecting, partnering and process as parallel paths to help reorient Europe’s stance on standardisation, including the EU and its Member States.
Success depends on several shifts, key among which are:
Standardisation must be embedded more deeply in industrial strategy and policy planning;
Early engagement is essential, with Europe positioning itself at the pre-standardisation and agenda-setting stages, rather than merely reacting to technical drafts;
Stronger coordination across EU Member States is needed to consolidate influence in international standard-setting organisations;
Resources – financial, human and digital – must be scaled up, especially in the formative stages of technical committee work, where critical scope and terminology decisions are made;
Europe must also build alliances with like-minded partners to amplify its values and avoid isolation in multilateral forums.
The stakes are particularly high for the Netherlands, a European leader in key (emerging) technologies such as chip equipment and manufacturing, and quantum technologies. With major assets in the semiconductor sector, digital infrastructure and multistakeholder governance, the Netherlands is well positioned to contribute to a stronger European role in international standardisation. Its current position can be upheld and deepened with the necessary institutional support, policy alignment and a long-term vision on standardisation and industrial policy.
Standardisation defines the rules of engagement for future technologies. If the EU and its Member States fail to act strategically, the European continent risks becoming a bystander in a system increasingly shaped by others. Swift action that puts policy to practice, reinvests in capabilities and empowers business players can ensure that Europe continues to define the standards of the next digital and industrial era on its own terms.