Standards for the New Economy

Purpose/objectives: many of the products and services we use are designed and developed following International Standards like ISO (The International Organization for Standardization, ISO). Standards affect most of the global trade and represent a fundamental driving force for new technologies. Standards provide an adaptive and responsive approach to manage innovation in the new economy, for this reason, the creation and use of consistent standards, through the input of both the private sector and governments, is fundamental for the medium to the long-term sustainable development of the new economy. Design/methodology: in this paper, a qualitative analysis of standards developments in blockchain and in AI have been performed, focusing on the new economy paradigms. Originality/value: the integration between cryptocurrencies based on blockchain technology and existing networks, trading and software accounting systems and other clearing networks rely on, results almost difficult to obtain, due to a series of relevant issues among which the most relevant is the lack of a standard and in this paper we have analyzed the state of the art in the development of new standard for the new economy. Findings: as main results, recently ISO standards are providing fundamental definitions for blockchain and, in general, of distributed ledger technologies, the first step toward the implementation of more extended standards allowing widespread adoption of blockchain by industries and governments. In parallel, numerous International Standard Developing Organizations are developing and publishing AI related standards including actionable steps to underpin a framework for the ‘responsible stewardship of trustworthy AI’. This includes the design, development, and deployment of AI internationally, through the OECD Principles on AI. Possible practical implications: these initiatives will surely foster the development of two key technologies for the new economy, with practical implications in Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT).