Standardization is at the core of the EU single market and the European Standardisation system has delivered more than 3600 harmonised standards over the last 30 years allowing companies to demonstrate compliance with EU law, inter-operability, the safety of EU citizens and protection of the environment. European standards have delivered great benefits for companies and consumers, creating a level-playing field in the single market for businesses and increasing consumer confidence.
Challenge
In the light of the social and environmental ambitions of the EU attached to the new growth strategy – the EU Green Deal – and the pathways for achieving it through green and digital transition, Europe’s competitiveness, technological sovereignty, ability to reduce dependencies and protection of EU values will depend on how successful European actors are in standardisation at international level.
According to the EU Standardization Strategy published in 2022, the fast pace of innovating for the twin transition will require more flexible and focused approach to standardization processes along with the creation of strong skills for standardization processes and awareness.
Solution
The Agile and Flexible Construction Materials Standardization for Boosting the Twin Transition (AFCOS) project will set up recommendations, based on a replicable pilot, for more agile standardization processes for construction products.
The study will be based on pre-normative research performed horizontally in a collaborative fashion between key ecosystem players – research, standardization and industrial actors.
Opportunity
Additionally, it will focus on identified standardization urgencies within the industrial ecosystem of construction and more specifically on standards supporting low carbon cement. Building on a set of activities combining research work with stakeholder engagement, educational activities and ambitious exploitation initiatives, AFCOS will produce tangible results for the benefit of the European Standardization Organizations (ESOs), national standardization bodies, educational institutions and industry.
Team
The AFCOS consortium comprises of 7 full partners from 4 EU countries (Bulgaria, Romania, Italy and Belgium) encompassing research and educational capacity (TU Sofia), standardization expertise (BDS, ASRO) and industry representation (CTBG, CRISCON, RoGBC) and ecosystem actors (AB) and 7 associated partners from 6 more countries (Cyprus, Ireland, Croatia, Norway and Albania) ensuring EU coverage and exploitability of the project results to a high level.
Outcomes
Generally, AFCOS will answer the following questions:
- What are the current weaknesses in pre-standardization for building materials?
- How can these be overcome for supporting accelerated commercialization of novel technologies in construction (with focus on low-carbon cement)?
- What education and training approaches (formats, topics) would be productive to support the creation of a knowledgeable community of practitioners in the standardization of building materials?
News
- Read more about AFCOS Kick-Off Meeting that was held in Sofia, Bulgaria on the 23 and 24 November 2023
References
Project Linkedin page
The AFCOS project has received funding from the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme, Grant Agreement no. 101135855.