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NEWS SPECIAL


Standards Conference makes virtual debut


With only six weeks notice from when lockdown was announced in March, BSI managed to transform its April Standards Conference into an online event, reaching an even wider audience in the process. The theme of the 2020 April


Standards Conference – ‘Fresh new ways of exploring standards’ – took on an extra level of meaning after a virtual conference replaced the scheduled event, due to be held at Central Hall, Westminster. With only six weeks notice


from when the date lockdown was


announced in mid-March to the April 23rd conference date, the BSI team staging the conference rearranged the whole event for an online audience (see ‘The show must go on’ page 24).


“The effort put in by a whole group of


people to make it happen was fantastic,” said Stephanie Eynon, BSI’s Standards-Makers Engagement and Inclusion Manager. “We really appreciated the willingness of our speakers to deliver their presentations online and we’re grateful to them for rising to the challenge, clearly providing a great experience for the delegates,”


The April Standards Conference is an opportunity to approach standards from


PAS 440 MAKES A CONFERENCE DEBUT


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presentation brought the audience up to date with the work BSI has been doing to support industry during the Covid-19 crisis. This work has included providing support to the Government on the approvals process for manufacturing ventilators and PPE that has been so vital to protect NHS workers and others on the frontline (see Scott Steedman introduction, page 2). Scott also answered questions from delegates and spoke about the vital role that international standards will play to help the global recovery once the threat from the pandemic has been contained. As with a face-to-face conference, there


a fresh angle with


particular appeal to young professionals. This year was no exception, as was refl ected in the two keynote speakers.


The morning presentation was from


Robert Wilson, the CEO of Toast Ale, a brewer of award-winning craft beer brewed with surplus bread which would otherwise go to waste. All profi ts go to the charity Feedback which seeks to end food waste. Robert spoke about the importance of sustainability to their business model. He also said how standards have helped the business, particularly when it comes to opening doors to the bigger retailers and how conforming to standards helps them save time and effort in the long term. The second keynote speaker, joining from Canada, was Isabella Grandic, a Program Success Manager with the Knowledge Society.


As a young entrepreneur, Isabella has been involved with an impressive range of projects from building machine learning to gene editing. The focus of her presentation was on the inequalities that exist in the diagnosis and treatment of female-specifi c diseases and how technology and standards can provide solutions. With some eye-opening data she made the case that female-specifi c diseases don’t get their fair share of research time that would lead to better outcomes. She made the point that sex, a key element


in how people respond to treatments, was generally not taken into account in medical research. Part of her solution to this inequality was to implement digital standards which would take gender into account, ensure diversity of data samples, and correct any conscious or unconscious bias in clinical trials. Director of Standards Scott Steedman’s


were breakout sessions running concurrently, where delegates could fi nd subjects of particular interest to them. These included a specially arranged presentation on organizational resilience, one on standards, trade and regulatory policy post-EU exit, and the launch of PAS 440 on responsible innovation. Over 1000 people registered for the


Rob Wilson


conference, with just over 500 actually taking part on the day, compared with a maximum of 200 at previous April events. “We’re very happy with how the conference


went,” said Stephanie. “Going online opened us up to a much wider audience, many who had never been able to attend a Standards Conference before.”


Isabella Grandic


CONFERENCE CATCH-UP Click here to watch the Standards


Conference keynote presentations and breakout sessions


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