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

  • Civitas presents 9th annual European awards for sustainable urban mobility
    September 25, 2012
    An initiative of the European Commission, Civitas (City-Vitality-Sustainability), presented its annual awards which recognise the ambitious and successful actions or policies that support cleaner, more effective city transportation, to three European cities following judging of 21 submissions. This year, Donostia – San Sebastian, Spain took home the coveted prize for City of the Year; Reggio Emilia, Italy won in the Public Participation category; and Porto, Portugal, triumphed in Technical Innovation. Three
  • Workzone safety can be economically viable
    October 24, 2014
    David Crawford looks how workzone safety can be ‘economically viable’. Highway maintenance is one of the most dangerous construction industry occupations in Europe. Research from The Netherlands on fatal crashes indicates that the risk facing road workzone operatives is ‘significantly higher’ than that for the general construction workforce. A survey carried out by the Highways Agency, which runs the UK’s motorway and trunk road network, has suggested that 20% of road workers have suffered injuries from pa
  • Hyperloop signs first US Interstate deal
    February 19, 2018
    Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) has signed agreements with the North Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency and Illinois' Department of Transportation to conduct a feasibility study in the region with several corridors connecting Cleveland to Chicago. The location, according to Andrea La Mendola, chief global operations office of HTT, was chosen based on the manufacturing, raw materials and the hard working people to make it happen. HTT has formed a regional consortium around the project to includ
  • All around the world: #ITSDubai2024
    September 5, 2024
    The bosses of the three major international ITS organisations – ITS America, Ertico and ITS Asia-Pacific – have put their heads together on a podcast. Beate Kubitz listens in…