Message from the Managing Director of Standards Norway

Standards Norway is proud and honoured to welcome the whole ISO family to Oslo in September for the 33rd ISO General Assembly. Together with ISO, we have been working hard to make this big event an event to remember for all participants. Hopefully, our efforts will pay off and the GA will be a success.

Standards Norway is a private, non-profit membership organisation. We are the biggest standardisation organisation in Norway and the Norwegian member of ISO. The former Norwegian ISO member (Norwegian Standards Association) was established in 1923 and was one of four organisations that merged and formed Standards Norway in 2003. Therefore, it is safe to say that organised standardisation has long traditions in this country.

Norway participated in the establishment of ISO and even if Norway is a small nation, we play an active role in both the technical work and the governance of ISO. Standards Norway will be represented on the ISO Council for the 2010-2011 term. Furthermore, our standardisation work covers a wide range of fields in the society. We are heavily involved in the oil and gas industry, and Norwegian standardisation work is also committed to the areas of accessibility and building construction, including topics such as “Building Smart” and “Smart House”.

We hope that the delegates will find the programme for both the General Assembly and the Open Session interesting. One of the highlights of this year’s GA will be the approval of ISO’s Strategic Plan for the 2011-2015 period.

Although this is not the first ISO General Assembly taking place in the Nordic countries, it is the first taking place in Norway. Thus, it is our hope that all 159 ISO members will take this opportunity to revisit Scandinavia and experience the fantastic Norwegian nature.

Welcome to the 2010 ISO General Assembly in the land “Powered by nature”!

Dr. Trine Tveter
Managing Director of Standards Norway

Message from the President of ISO

As President of ISO, I am pleased to welcome the representatives of our 159 members from all over the world to the 33rd ISO General Assembly in Oslo, at the invitation of Standards Norway (SN). Our host country has been represented in ISO since the very beginning – 1947.

Norway enjoys one of the highest standards of living in the world, due to a highly productive and flexible economy. Discerning trends and responding to changing market conditions is one of the keys to Norway’s long-standing success. The economy has been able to channel resources to high-growth activities and to implement forward-looking policies. Such measures include a continuing shift towards service industries – a sector that accounts for the greater proportion of value creation in the economy.

As a powerful agent of change and driving force in the economy, information and communication technologies (ICT) have been identified by the government as a priority for Norway to be a key player in the “knowledge economy”. ICT are pervasive and raise productivity in a wide range of sectors. They are knowledge-intensive and environmentally friendly, so a strengthened ICT sector enhances the transition to a green knowledge economy. In this respect, Norway is striving to become carbon neutral by 2030.

Not surprisingly, therefore, SN and ISO have been keen to embrace applied IT as the theme of the joint workshop that will be held within the framework of the General Assembly. IT are the very model of a fastevolving sector. They need a broad commitment to internationally designed solutions and are high on Norway’s policy agenda. Norway’s special preconditions for success in this area should set the scene for an interesting event. Topography, together with shipping and exploration activities in the North Sea, have turned the country into a leader in wireless and satellite communications, as well as software development.

SN’s valuable contributions to the activities of ISO reflect its strong commitment to the core business of ISO and to ISO’s global vision, both in terms of governance and of technical work. Shaping ISO’s global vision towards 2015 will be one of our challenging targets in Oslo as the General Assembly will be invited to approve the ISO Strategic Plan 2011-2015. Here too, adaptability to the evolving world framework is of paramount importance.

We thank our friends at SN for their kind invitation and for the opportunity they are providing to us to contribute to ISO’s global reach. We look forward to fruitful discussions, solid decisions and to enjoying Norwegian hospitality in the midst of such a beautiful country.

Dr. Alan Morrison
ISO President

Velkommen til Oslo!

Welcome to Oslo!              Bienvenue à Oslo!