The aims of this unit:

· to make you think about the standards form the point of supporting and promoting innovation;

· to analyse the benefits they bring to the businesses and products;

· to reflect upon the ways of business strategic development and growth.

START UP

In what way do you think standards can promote innovation?

Can standardization and innovation be considered as rivals or partners?

READING

1 Read the article about promoting innovation and match the headings to the paragraphs:

a. Collaboration And Shared Knowledge Networks

b.Standards For New Technologies

c. Best Practice And Internal Benefits

d. Standards In R&D

e. Standardization Promotes Profitability And Sustainable Growth

Standards provide support for innovation from original concept through to market. The shared knowledge and network benefits they afford help reduce costs and associated risks, allowing a business to:

· increase speed to market

· create interoperability

· shape and develop a new market

1. ____ Standards enable businesses to reduce the time, effort and money required by the research and development of new products, while increasing the likelihood of success in the marketplace. For new technologies, standardization can promote customer confidence and encourage market growth. By standardizing at key points in technological development, this growth can be made sustainable and a climate of effective technological evolution created.

Standards support and reward innovation by defining and measuring product performance. They also ensure that families of products can work together. This interoperability is a key factor to success in many fields.

2. ____ Standards offer benefits throughout research and development (R&D), design and testing, helping to reduce the expensive and time-consuming business of starting from scratch. Spending less time and money reinventing the wheel means efforts can be concentrated on developing new and innovative features. The result is that products get to market much more quickly and efficiently, reducing investment risks and enabling firms to recoup initial investments much faster.

3. ___ The collaborative nature of standardization includes consideration of customer and market needs throughout the development of the standard. This expert knowledge increases the chances of resulting products being accepted in the marketplace. Innovators can therefore choose how best to differentiate their products and services, increasing market value and further reducing risks from R&D expenditure.

4. ___ The application of standards within the infrastructure of an organization serves to streamline internal and external operations and strengthen the consistency of processes. Benefits can be gained through:

· eliminating wasteful investments of time and resources

· increased internal productivity and quality of communication

· reduced duplication of effort and improved risk management.

5. ____ Developed in collaboration with interests from government and society, standards provide powerful support for the identification of best practice. Processes recognized as promoting efficiency and quality demonstrate leadership and make a clear statement to suppliers, partners and customers.

When applied effectively, standardization can be a true catalyst for business growth and strategic development. By providing best-practice guidance, standards help businesses to assess their processes, allowing them to take steps to increase efficiency and become more profitable.

Read the statements and decide if they are True or False. Make a note of the part of the text which helps you decide.

1. Products that meet international standards are more likely to succeed in the market place.

2. Standards require heavy investments which rarely pay off.

3. Standardized products are more preferable by the consumers.

4. Businesses have to invest more time and money if in case of standards application.

5. Standardization can help to evaluate the efficiency of the business.

VOCABULARY PRACTICE

Refer back to the text and match a line in A with a line in B to define English-Russian equivalents.