TECHNOLOGY RACEU.S. Battle for Technology Standards
Technology standards have become powerful instruments of geostrategic influence in recent years. Technology standards—which determine how devices, systems and networks operate and interact with each other—influence a nation’s economic competitiveness, national security and military power.
Last month, the White House quietly released the United States Government National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology, a new whole-of-US-government approach to addressing China’s expanding influence in international technology standards-setting bodies.
Technology standards have become powerful instruments of geostrategic influence in recent years, as countries have recognised that the rules and specifications governing technologies impact the balance of power in today’s interconnected world. Technology standards—which determine how devices, systems and networks operate and interact with each other—influence a nation’s economic competitiveness, national security and military power. The building blocks of the modern world, tech standards also have significant implications for the protection of human rights and values.
The US has over recent years become increasingly aware of the strategic competition underway to reshape the rules and standards governing the development and use of technology, and the risks of creeping digital authoritarianism in standards-setting bodies. However, formulating a meaningful response has proven challenging given standards-setting bodies remain primarily industry led. The strategy, however, signifies a significant step forward in the US’s efforts to navigate growing strategic competition.
China has taken a multi-faceted approach to exerting influence over international technology standards-setting bodies, by strategically aligning its technology standards agenda with its geopolitical and economic interests. This approach has included mandating that domestic enterprises support the state’s standards goals, funding research into standards development and pushing for standards that promote authoritarianism through enhanced government control over digital technologies.
China’s proactive engagement at scale, including deploying large government delegations and inundating standards bodies with proposals, has also met with some success. These efforts serve not only to bolster China’s economic position by shaping standards to disproportionately favour Chinese industry—undermining principles of fair competition and technical integrity—but also seek to reshape global technological norms to align with its own values and priorities by compromising human rights and privacy on a global scale.
The overarching goal of the new US strategy is for the US to remain a leader in standards development and ensure technology standards are developed in a way that safeguards American consumers, protects US national security interests, and promotes US economic competitiveness. The strategy focuses on four key objectives to achieve these goals: investment in research and development, encouraging private sector and academic participation, increased education and training, and integrity of standards based on technical merit promoted through fair processes.
