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In the Spotlight



       Jan  Ellsberger  was  elected  as  ETSI’s   The  following  year  ETSI  was  set  up   What initiatives can we expect
       new  Director-General  at  our  83rd   by  CEPT  with  a  somewhat  different   to see marking your first
       General  Assembly  in  April  2024.   structure  from  its  ESO  (European   months as Director-General?
       Taking effect on 1st July, his term of   Standards  Organization)  peers  CEN
       office lasts for five years which can be   and  CENELEC,  as  a  vehicle  enabling   My  immediate  priority  is  to  take  a
       extended by a further three years at   the rapid development of standards   proactive  stance  in  strengthening
       the discretion of ETSI’s membership.   to  meet  the  needs  of  European   ETSI’s  role  as  an  ESO  and  re-
       He  succeeds  Luis  Jorge  Romero    policymakers and industry.           establishing its relevance within the
       who  served  as  Director-General  for                                    European  standardization  system.
       thirteen years.                      ETSI  became  very  successful  right   That  means  working  closely  with
                                            from  the  first  years  of  its  operation,   the  Commission  as  well  as  other
       Jan is no stranger to ETSI. From 1995   with  early  results  including  the   policy  stakeholders  –  the  scope  of
       to  1998  he  worked  as  a  permanent   globalization of GSM, the Smart Card   ETSI is of course wider than just the
       expert  with  responsibility  for  our   Platform, and the creation of 3GPP, as   27 EU member states. So in the near
       relations  with  the  ITU-T  secretariat,   well as other initiatives like DECT and   term I am keen to strengthen ETSI’s
       SG.10  and  SG.11  related  to  formal   TETRA. Of course a lot has happened   interfaces with the Commission and
       methodologies    for    standards    since,  both  in  terms  of  technology   other  policymakers.  We  need  to
       development.   He   was    closely   development and within the European   work  more  systematically,  and  from
       involved in the development of INAP/  and global political and socioeconomic   a perspective of the ETSI Secretariat
       CAMEL,  TETRA  and  ISDN  standards,   landscape.  What’s  important  now  is   we  will  focus  our  use  of  resources
       and  methodologies  for standards    for  ETSI  to  consolidate  on  that  early   in  engaging  positively  with  the
       conformance test suites.             success in a world where change is the   Commission and other stakeholders,
                                            only constant.
       With a career  spanning  over                                             and  to  further  strengthen  ETSI’s
       three   decades    in    technical   While  preparing  for  my  candidacy   role  as  a  global  platform  for
       standardization,  Jan  led  Ericsson’s   over the last year I’ve already been in   technology innovation.
       global standardization operations for   several discussions with the European   The  fundamental  way  that  ETSI
       twelve  years  in  his  capacity  as  Vice   Commission in my role representing   creates  standards  through  global
       President  Industry  and  Technology.   one  of  ETSI’s  member  companies.   collaboration  is  already  very  strong,
       More recently, he has worked as an   We have already established a good   and  I  don’t  see  any  need  to  change
       advisor  to clients and  partners on   foundation  for  collaboration,  and   this process dramatically in the short
       industry trends in the automotive and   together  we’ve  identified  a  number   term.  However  we  will  continue
       ICT  sectors.  Until  2023  he  was  Vice   of  areas  of  improvement.  It’s  my   to  look  closely  at  our  own  working
       President Industry Development and   priority  to  address  these  right  from   methods,  just  as  3GPP,  ISO  and  IEC
       Standardization  Officer  Automotive   the outset of my office.           have been doing in recent years. It’s
       at Huawei.
                                            I’m a European citizen who’s worked   certainly  time  to  take  a  new  look  at
       As incoming Director-                for  most  of  my  career  in  European   this and see what ideas we can adopt.
       General of a world-class             companies.  Working  most  recently   Hand in hand with this, another area
       standardization organization         in a Chinese company of course gives   I  want  to  look  at  with  fresh  eyes
                                            valuable  insights  into  the  working
       with some 950 members,               practices and priorities of other non-  is  ETSI’s  high-level  strategy,  with
       what’s your starting point?          European organizations. I believe this   a  clear  understanding  of  our
                                            experience  will  serve  ETSI  very  well   strengths  and  actionable  items  for
       The  origins  of  ETSI  date  back  to   in a landscape that is influenced by   the  Secretariat  to  execute.  I’m  very
       a  proposal  in  the  shape  of  the   and  where  ETSI  works  with  entities   much  looking  forward  to  discussing
       Green  Paper  that  was  issued  by   from outside of Europe.             with  the  Board  and  executives
       the  European  Commission  in  1987.                                      from  our  member  companies  and
                                                                                 administrations to explore what can
                                                                                 be achieved in this area.




                                                                          Enjoy! The ETSI Mag – August 2024    17
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