7. Supranational Innovation and Standards Circles

Supranational innovation circle (SIC) involves four main stakeholders on the supranational level: Research and Education Institutions, or Industry as a nurturing place of inventors; Governmental and private organizations funding, forming the entrepreneurial level; Marketing Organizations, as organized places of marketers and users; and – most often represented by – Users Organizations of a nongovernmental type. The participation of inventors in the standardization process makes SIC add one more stakeholder: Supranational Standardization Organization (SSO). If inventors are holders of Intellectual Property Right, SIC grows one more stakeholder: supranational IP organization. The four important configuration types of supranational innovation circle are discussed. Supranational Standards Body (SSB) has a central position in the supranational standard circle, consisting of the other three stakeholders: authority, industry, and societal stakeholders. The central position of enabling the standardization process explains why so much attention was given to explanation of SSB. The most important three supranational standards bodies on the European Standards Organizations (ESOs), CEN, CENELEC, and ETSI, are discussed.