Standardisation Processes in China and the European Union explained by Regional Innovation Systems

Standardisation processes and policies demand increased attention due to their contribution to enterprise competitiveness and relation to trade barriers. However, standardisation differs considerably per region. In order to investigate these differences in more detail, the standardisation processes for digital terrestrial television in China and the European Union are compared in terms of actors involved, their roles and relations, and the institutions governing standardisation processes. The structure and underlying dynamics of these regional innovation systems are analysed and compared. The analysis is based on a set of functions describing the underlying dynamics of both systems. For every step in the standardisation process, the influence of innovation functions, actors and institutions is listed and evaluated in detail. Based on the results major differences between standardisation processes in China and the European Union are identified. It further will be pointed out that these differences can be related to major differences in the institutional set up and dynamics of the related innovation systems.