Call for Papers: Standardisation and Innovation in Information Technology (SIIT)

FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS

11bth International Conference on

Standardisation and Innovation in Information Technology (SIIT)

– The Past, Present and FUTURE of ICT Standardisation –

8 – 10 September 2021

RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

Standardisation in a changing world

Over the past decade, the ICT industry has undergone a dramatic transformation. One effect of this has been a shift of economic and technical power to some of the largest corporations in the world. This has had massive ramification for investments in this sector, as well as for the ecosystem of ICT application and product development. Has this development impacted standardisation and innovation and if so, how?

Moreover, it appears that the ICT industry has become overly obsessed with being first and being unique; change has become a desirable end in itself. In such an environment, standardisation may quickly be devaluated in stakeholders’mind sets. It is still necessary but ╘someone else’s problem’.And this will lead to long term (interoperability) problems.

Against this background, SIIT 2020 aims to take a step back and do some stock-taking. What have we got? What do we need? How can we close the gap (if any)? Where will we probably go from here and where should we go? Can we learn something from history? How do ongoing technical, economic, political, social or legal developments impact standardisation, and how can/should the current standardisation system adapt to these developments (if at all)?

Since 1999, SIIT conferences are bringing together experts from academia, government and industry with an interest in ICT standardisation. It thus serves as a platform to foster the exchange of insights and views on all issues surrounding standards, standardisation and innovation. Contributing academic disciplines include, but are by no means limited to: Business Studies, Computer Science, Economics, Engineering, History, Information Systems, Law, Management Studies and Sociology.

Topics

All types of papers (e.g. theoretical, empirical, analytical, case studies) are welcome. We specifically encourage submissions that relate directly to the conference theme. However, all submissions that foster our understanding of innovation and standardisation, the links that exist between them and with the broader technical, social or legal environment will be considered. Aspects include, but are certainly not limited to:

* Standardisation in a flux!?

* ICT Standardisation in the world’s different regions.

* The impact of legal and societal developments on standardisation.

* Smart systems’standardisation – stakeholders, society, environment, sustainability.

* Patterns of participation in ICT standards setting.

* Powerful players in the ICT industry vs. standardisation?

* Will concerns about Huawei (and others) impact ICT standardisation?

* Can we learn from the past?

* Impact of standards (e.g. on innovation, competition, convergence).

* Alternative interoperability strategies .

* Adoption, implementation and diffusion of standards.

* Standardisation management and strategies.

* Standards setting processes and organisations.

* Open standards, open source, open innovation

* IPRs and the legal dimension of standards.

* Standardisation policies and regulation.

* Economics of standards.

* History of standardisation.

Paper Submissions

SIIT 2021 invites submissions of original (unpublished) papers for one of these categories:

* Academic papers will typically adopt a more theoretical approach and will ideally inform academics as well as practitioners (up to 20 pages).

* Industry papers address relevant topics from a more practical perspective and should also help ╘ground’academic research (up to 20 pages).

* Presentation papers are intended for presentation only. They will not be published in the conference proceedings in order to allow a subsequent journal publication (relevant to certain fields of science; up to 20 pages).

* Opinion papers should focus on well-motivated personal views (up to 10 pages).

* Work-in-progress papers report and discuss ongoing activities (up to 10 pages).

* Poster papers will typically report new ideas or early work in progress (up to 5 pages).

All papers should adhere to the formatting guidelines and will undergo a double blind peer-review process. Authors may submit more than one paper, but each author will be allowed to present only one paper during the conference. At least one author of each accepted paper is required to register for the conference and present the paper, otherwise the paper will not be included in the proceedings.

A paper template with formatting guidelines may be found at

https://www.comsys.rwth-aachen.de/fileadmin/downloads/SIIT_Template_Submissions.zip

Submissions must be made through the EasyChair system at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=siit2021.

All accepted papers (except presentation papers) will be published in the conference proceedings, as part of the ╘EURAS Contributions to Standardisation Research’book series (no copyright transfer required). They will also be fast-tracked for inclusion in the International Journal on Standardization Research (IJSR) (subject to approval by the authors).

Important Dates

Submissions due: 26 April 2021

Notification of acceptance/rejection: 21 June 2021

Final paper due: 19 July 2021

All information about the conference will be announced at http://siit2021.org.