There are a number of things that the IEC, ISO and the ITU really do need to look at together, particularly if we might one day find ourselves co-ordinating our technical work more closely. We must all be focusing on our relevant core business so that we operate most efficiently and without unnecessary overlaps in our work. We must also reduce the time it takes to deliver standards. At the IEC we have reduced the average development time from eight years to five and a half, but this is still far too long, especially given the speed at which technology now appears and disappears. We must reduce costs.
Industry pays for the experts and clients pay for the standards.
In both cases, we are fully aware that everyone would like to see costs come down. We must also enhance industry's confidence in us, and to do this we must produce timely and relevant consensus-based international standards. Another aspect to all this is that we need to recruit a young, competent, technical workforce. They are subsequently shuffled off to the broom closet of standardization departments to finish their days puttering around with standards. We do not accept this scenario.