Skip to main content

First EU-US Interoperability Centre opens

The first of the twin centres designed to promote common standards in electric mobility and smart grids on both sides of the Atlantic has been inaugurated at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago. The second Centre will be opened in the EU, at the JRC sites in Petten, The Netherlands and Ispra, Italy, in 2014. The launch follows eighteen months of dedicated work following the letter of intent for closer co-operation, signed by the JRC, the European Commission's in-hous
July 22, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
The first of the twin centres designed to promote common standards in electric mobility and smart grids on both sides of the Atlantic has been inaugurated at the 5631 US Department of Energy’s (DOE) 5041 Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago. The second Centre will be opened in the EU, at the JRC sites in Petten, The Netherlands and Ispra, Italy, in 2014.

The launch follows eighteen months of dedicated work following the letter of intent for closer co-operation, signed by the JRC, the 1690 European Commission's in-house science service, and the DOE in 2011.

In the light of the EU-US negotiations on a free trade agreement, aiming to lower tariffs and harmonise standards, the work of the Interoperability Centres will be particularly pertinent in the energy and transport sectors.

Standardisation in this field will benefit the European energy landscape while converging transatlantic technical regulations could lead the way to global standards. The trade and investment agreement currently negotiated by the EU and the US known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), aims to remove tariffs and differences in technical regulations, standards and certifications which cost time and money to companies and consumers. In the context of the importance of this agreement for converging standards across the Atlantic, the work of the twin Interoperability Centres will play a scene-setting role for technology harmonisation in the two biggest world economies.

In an additional development relevant to EU-US co-operation in standardisation, the JRC and the US National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) have agreed to boost their co-operation in standards and measurements to ten different areas, including energy and transport.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • New large-scale initiative towards Europe smart cities
    December 18, 2012
    The Smart Cities Stakeholder Platform, part of the Smart Cities and Community Partnership, which was launched by the European Commission in early 2012, works as an advisory body for the EU’s leading research initiative on the future of cities. Members include technology producers, energy providers and urban visionaries. The open-invitation group is already 1,000 members strong, and is currently building a database of high-tech solutions to help build the smart cities of tomorrow. The ideas, coming from the
  • Keolis and Ivado partner to develop mobility solutions through big data
    November 6, 2017
    A five year strategic partnership has been signed between Keolis and the Institute for Data Valorisation (IVADO) at the ITS World Congress 2017 in Montreal to support the development of urban mobility solutions through use of Big Data. It is aimed at enabling Keolis to better understand the way passengers move around and how best to plan transport networks to be even more efficient.
  • Maintaining momentum: learning lessons from the London Olympics
    November 15, 2013
    Japan will not only host this year’s ITS World Congress but has been selected for the 2020 Olympics. So what can Japan, and indeed Brazil, learn from the traffic management for London 2012 - Geoff Hadwick finds out. It was a key moment when Olympic boss Jacques Rogge signed off London 2012, calling the Games “happy and glorious.” Scarred by the logistical disaster of Atlanta 1996 and the last-minute building panic for Athens 2008, Rogge clearly thought London 2012 was an object lesson in how to plan and
  • The future of ITS post recession
    January 25, 2012
    ACS, A Xerox Company's Cees de Wijs talks about post-recession recovery and what we might expect to see in the coming years