As technology advances at an unprecedented pace, the challenge for standards bodies is no longer simply developing standards, but ensuring they evolve fast enough to remain relevant.
Vimal Mahendru, Vice-President, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), said continuous knowledge exchange is critical to keeping standardisation aligned with technological change, positioning the Kuala Lumpur Engineering Forum (KLEF) as an important platform for industry dialogue.
“The speed of change presents a big challenge for the industry. While the pace of technology will not slow down, what we are trying to do at IEC is reinvent the traditional standardisation process so that consensus-building can happen faster, including through digital transformation,” he said.
The challenge is equally important for Malaysia. See Chee Kong, Director General, Department of Standards Malaysia (JSM), stressed the need to remain connected to international developments so that national standards can respond effectively to emerging technologies and changing industry requirements.
“One of the biggest challenges, in the face of rapidly advancing technology, is keeping abreast of what is happening around the world, particularly within organisations such as ISO and IEC,” he noted.
“There are many standards at the international level that need to be refreshed and revised. It is important that Malaysia works hard to adopt relevant revisions and align those that matter to the country,” See added.
The discussion at KLEF emphasised an emerging issue: as technology cycles become shorter, standardisation must become more agile. Keeping Malaysia aligned with international developments while responding to domestic priorities will be critical to ensuring that innovation can be adopted with greater consistency, confidence and interoperability.