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

  • Insight into China's smart cities initiatives
    April 25, 2013
    Schneider Electric, which has been playing an active role in smart transportation systems in China since 1990, provides an insight into smart city initiatives in the country. Today, most cities across the world are facing unprecedented growth, which questions the viability of the current development model. They are immersed in a competition with each other, both domestically and internationally, in terms of investments, jobs and talents. Cities need to become more attractive and intelligent by becoming more
  • EU backs transport renewal funding to 2027
    March 29, 2019
    MEPs have backed a funding programme which will include money for the digitalisation of transport and the development of 5G systems. The European Union policymakers have voted to support the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme for 2021-2027 in a meeting between European Parliament industry and transport committees. The provisional agreement sets the framework for continuing the CEF programme to fund transport, digital and energy projects over the seven-year period. The budgetary provisions for the
  • Better websites build smarter transport participation
    March 17, 2017
    Transport initiatives are gaining traction through well-designed websites. Four European smart transport-oriented websites have gained honours in the 2016 .eu Web Awards, an online competition inaugurated in 2014 to recognise the most impressive sites within the .eu internet domain in terms of their design and content. The four were among 15 finalists across all five categories of the scheme, giving the transport sector a high profile for its proactive use of sites as communications tools for driving major
  • New vehicle technologies ‘could help reduce fatalities on European motorways’
    March 5, 2015
    New safety technologies could play a major role in reducing the numbers killed on European motorways, according to the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), in a new report published today. The new analysis of developments in motorway safety shows that, despite recent progress, around 1,900 were killed on motorways in the EU in 2013. The report cites figures from several countries showing that up to 60 per cent of those killed in motorway collisions were not wearing a seatbelt. It calls on the EU to req