ISO turns 70
The International Organization for Standardization ISO is celebrating its 70th anniversary. Its founding shortly after the end of World War 2 stemmed from the hope of using international standards as the key to rebuilding the world.
In 2017, ISO celebrates its 70th anniversary. The history of the International Organization for Standardization dates back to 1946: delegates from 25 countries met to discuss the future of standardization. One year later, on February 23, 1947, ISO was officially founded.
In the post-war period, the founders saw International Standards as the key to reconstruction. In 1947, the purpose of the fledgling organization was to drive the coordination and unification of international standards. Until then, national standards had been the norm. The founders opened the organization to any country that wanted to participate - with equal rights and equal responsibilities for all.
These principles are still valid today. In 2017, ISO has 163 members. Standardization is now well advanced and covers almost all aspects of technology and business.
The first standard
After the organization was established, 67 expert groups (technical committees) were set up in specific technical fields such as screw threads, marine technology, foodstuffs, textiles, paints and laboratory equipment with a mandate to develop international standards. This led in 1951 to the first ISO standard (then called "recommendations"), ISO / R1: 1951, the standard reference temperature for industrial length measurements.
Since then, the ISO portfolio has expanded to include more than 22,000 standards that support all the major technological, environmental and societal changes that have taken place in the world.
"For 70 years, ISO has made standards that have shaped our history and accompanied the world's greatest innovations. From standardizing materials, components and equipment for the aerospace industry to measuring environmental pollutants, from establishing a management system to ensure food safety in the supply chain to creating guidelines for human-robot interaction, the need for international standardization has always evolved with the needs of industry and society," says ISO President Dr. Zhang Xiaogang.
Community expansion
ISO has worked hard over the years to expand its stakeholder base with organizations and users in developing countries, for example.
Societal parameters such as better satisfaction and greater safety for consumers provide key specifications for standards. The inclusion of social insights in standards development is therefore essential, as these real-world perspectives help to ensure that issues such as quality and safety are adequately addressed. The importance of consumer protection thus received support with the ISO Committee on Consumer Policy (ISO / COPOLCO) as early as 1978.
With regard to current developments, standards will remain important in order to regulate climate change, water scarcity or to manage cyber security or human migration across national borders in order to optimize international action and integrated management.
Many evidenced points have recently been adopted by the United Nations as part of its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, cf. 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
"The ISO community has many standards that can help organizations and businesses address their agenda," says the ISO president. "We are ready to provide effective tools to help diverse communities around the world address these challenges."
