STANDARDIZATION FOR ENGINEERS

Docente responsabile

NIZAR ABDELKAFI

CCS proponenti

Ingegneria Gestionale

CFU

1

Ore in presenza

12

Prerequisiti

no prerequisite

N° max studenti

20

Criteri di selezione

Students from all study programs could enroll to the program. No selection criteria.

Parole chiave:

EU Values & Global Impact, Ethical & Inclusive Technology, Innovation & Standards, Strategic Engineering Skills, standardization ecosystem

Tag

Business and management, Engineering, Social

Descrizione dell'iniziativa

This course provides an introduction to standardization for engineering students and highlights its role in shaping industries, fostering innovation, and supporting business strategy. It explores what standards are, why they exist, how they are developed, and their impact on engineering practice and the broader economy. Through this course, students will gain a foundational understanding of the standardization ecosystem, including key organizations, processes, and stakeholders involved in setting standards. They will also learn about the strategic importance of standards for companies, particularly in relation to market access, interoperability, regulatory compliance, and technological leadership. Furthermore, the course will cover the intersection between standardization and innovation, while emphasizing its role in enabling technology diffusion and reducing barriers to trade. The relationship between standards and intellectual property (IP)—especially with respect to patents and standard-essential patents (SEPs)—will be discussed to illustrate the dynamics between open and proprietary technologies in engineering.

While this course focuses on standardization for engineers, it also emphasizes how the standardization process can be a powerful tool for promoting key European Union values, such as human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, and respect for human rights, including those of minorities. Thus, standardization plays a crucial role in ensuring inclusivity, accessibility, sustainability, and fairness, making it a key enabler of ethical and responsible engineering practices.

The course will be designed to actively engage students using interactive teaching methods that encourage critical thinking and participation. The methods will ensure that students, who are experts in their engineering field but new to standardization, can quickly grasp key concepts and develop a good/an applied understanding of the subject. In detail:

• Teaching by questions: Thought-provoking questions before introducing key concepts
• Teaching by examples: Using real-world examples to illustrate the concepts and their interrelationships
• Quizzes, Case study approach and serious game

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

Explain the fundamental concepts of standardization—including what standards are, why they exist, and their impact on engineering practice.

Identify key standardization bodies (e.g., ISO, IEC, CEN, CENELEC, ETSI, IEEE) and describe their roles in developing and maintaining standards.

Describe the standardisation process, including the stages of standard development, stakeholder involvement, and principles such as openness, transparency, and consensus.

Analyze the strategic importance of standards for companies, including market access, competitiveness, and regulatory compliance.

Understand the relationship between standardisation, Research and Development and innovation, including the role of patents and Standard-Essential Patents (SEPs).

Evaluate the role of standards in promoting European values, including human dignity, equality and inclusivity.

Recognize challenges in standardisation, such as unintended biases in standards and the need for continuous standard revisions, but also opportunities in standardisation such as market access and innovation diffusion.  

Periodo di svolgimento

dal November 2025 a December 2025

Calendario

21/11/2025 (14:00-18:00)
28/11/2025 (14:00-18:00)
12/12/2025 (14:00-18:00)