This February 2026, StandICT.eu 2029 and INSTAR have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to formalise and strengthen their collaboration on Human Rights considerations in ICT standardisation.
The purpose of the MoU is to enable structured cooperation between the INSTAR Human Rights Task Force and the StandICT.eu Human Rights Technical Working Group (TWG), avoid duplication of efforts, and create more coherent contributions to European and international standardisation work. INSTAR will share with the StandICT.eu TWG its current list of expert members, as well as draft outputs on Human Rights recommendations for AI standardisation priorities. This will facilitate coordination and allow StandICT.eu experts to review, comment, and provide complementary input. Both initiatives will also support cross-participation in relevant events.
For both projects, this cooperation improves alignment, increases visibility of Human Rights in ICT standardisation, and supports stronger cross-community dialogue at the European and international levels.
StandICT.eu 2029 is a renowned EU-funded project focused on supporting ICT standardisation activities across Europe. By providing grants and resources to ICT experts, StandICT.eu ensures that European interests are represented in the global standardisation landscape.
INSTAR is an EU-funded project focused on aligning international ICT standardisation priorities with Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and the USA. It promotes EU values and interests in key emerging technology areas, including 5G+/6G, AI, Cloud-Edge-IoT, Cybersecurity and Digital ID, data technologies, and quantum technologies.
INSTAR coordinator quote: The partnership between INSTAR and StandICT.eu represents an important step towards highlighting the Human Rights aspects of ICT standardisation, ensuring that emerging technologies such as AI, 5G+/6G and Cloud‑Edge‑IoT are developed in line with European values. By joining forces, our projects can better coordinate expert input, avoid duplication of efforts and deliver stronger, more coherent contributions to European and international standards bodies. This collaboration will help raise the visibility of Human Rights considerations in standards work and foster a more inclusive cross‑community dialogue worldwide.
StandICT.eu coordinator quote: This partnership with INSTAR strengthens our shared commitment to integrate human rights considerations into ICT standardisation in a consistent and actionable way. StandICT.eu fellows often highlight a recurring challenge as technical committees may have strong technical expertise, but limited capacity to translate human rights expectations into concrete standards outputs. Via this cooperation we aim to help standards work more gradually reflect human rights consideration in relevant ICT domains. As a final add-on, we also welcome the opportunity to jointly support the European Commission-led seminar on human rights in ICT standardisation in April 2026 and to use it as a catalyst for wider coordination across communities.
