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Access the standards you need and learn how to get involved in the standardization that drives innovation.

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Connectivity

Working Towards Safer, Age-Appropriate Internet for Kids

08 Apr 2025 IEEE SA Beyond Standards

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Engagement

IEEE SA Industry Connections Program Cultivates Collaboration

27 Feb 2025 IEEE SA Beyond Standards

Career

Getting Involved with IEEE Standards Projects is a Powerful Career Booster

30 Sep 2024 IEEE SA Beyond Standards

Network and Advance Your Career With Standards

Developing standards is a collaborative effort. When you get involved in the process, you build connections, develop expertise, and gain new insight into your work. But there are benefits beyond the knowledge and experience you gain. “Being involved in standardization is all about the art of conversation, influence, and compromise,” explains Gordon Gillerman, Director, Standards Coordination Office in the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology. “These skills aren’t just relevant in seeking a good outcome in the standard you’re working on—these skills are relevant in your professional life and quite frankly, your personal life.”

Learn how standards can help you build connections and grow professionally.

Get Involved

Whatever your career stage, there’s a way for you to help develop open, balanced, and market-driven technology standards. Here’s how to get started.

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“What I particularly enjoy about the standards development work is the opportunity it provides to get to know so many highly skilled, knowledgeable people from such a broad cross section of our industry. It is a rare privilege and a real pleasure to work so closely, at a technical level, with such talented people from other organizations. It just wouldn’t be possible without the environment provided by IEEE.”

John Biggs

Distinguished Fellow at Pragmatic, ARM Co-Founder, and Chair of the IEEE 1801 (UPF) Working Group

How IEEE Standards Are Developed

IEEE Standards Development Cycle

Driving technology forward

Standardization creates the technological foundation that enables innovation. Our standards are developed using a proven six-stage life cycle. Here’s a look at the process.

Stage 1: Initiating the Project

Like all innovations, an IEEE standard begins with an idea. Collaboration often plays a role: Groups across industries and technological sectors may come together to identify the need for a new standard. For a project to start, it needs support from a Standards Committee followed by approval from the IEEE SA.

Stage 2: Mobilizing the Working Group

The first step after a project is approved is to form a Working Group. Made up of volunteers from industry, government, nonprofits, and other areas, these participants bring their expertise to the project.

Stage 3: Drafting the Standard

The IEEE SA editorial staff supports over 500 Working Groups annually, helping to streamline standard draft development. IEEE’s tools and guides help volunteers at every stage: drafting, balloting, and post-approval publishing.

Stage 4: Balloting the Standard

When the Working Group and Standards Committee approve the final draft, the IEEE balloting process begins. This stage is a key part of IEEE’s consensus standards: It allows for input from stakeholders who may not have been part of the Working Group.

Stage 5: Gaining Final Approval

Standards that are successful in the Ballot Process must receive approval first from the Review Committee and then from the Standards Board before it is published.

Stage 6: Maintaining the Standard

Standards are “living documents” which may be modified or updated as needed. Amendments can change sections and corrigendas address errors or provide clarification.

“Projects like ours that are based on novel research ideas can make significant contributions to the networking industry, where well-known, proven but maybe outdated technologies and protocols sometimes are being combined together to solve escalating problems. Simple protocols based on novel ideas can be developed to provide a more efficient and green solution to our networking challenges.”

Nirmala Shenoy

Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology School of Information and Chair of the IEEE 1910.1™ Working Group

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