The Standardization of Digital Technologies in Practice: The 5G Example

Standardization is of considerable importance for the concrete design of relevant digital technologies and thus for the emergence of tomorrow’s markets. Although 5G is likely to be essential for the competitiveness of economies and companies in the future, Germany plays only a subordinate role in the standardization of this technology. Especially the future users of this technology, the “traditional industrial companies,” encounter new standardization worlds, with new actors, rules, committees and therefore find it difficult to enforce their specific requirements in standardization. However, 5G is not a specific technology, but merely a set of requirements defined by the ITU-R, which outlines the special performance characteristics and functions of the next generation of mobile communications. There is a powerful, European alternative to the current “mainstream,” which, however, must first be included in the 5G family in order to fully participate in the technological development.