“The standardisation process for smart appliances needs to be open, flexible and allowing for innovative market developments and changes in technology”, highlighted APPLiA’s Smart Living and Competitiveness Policy Specialist, Lenka Jančová in a one-day technical workshop on “Interoperability and communication standards for Smart Appliances”. The market for energy smart appliances is moving ahead quickly and manufacturers who have the best know-how on of their products should be in the driving seat of standardisation. "In the end, it is the industry that uses standards so it should be manufacturers, having the best expertise, who develop them, otherwise we risk the solution will stay on paper and will be not taken up by the market. This should come bottom-up", APPLiA further continued.
The event was organised by the trade industry associations, AMDEA, APPLiA and BEAMA on November 15th with the aim to inform about the currently ongoing EU and international initiatives in the development of standards and the drive to establish an interoperable system across Europe, focusing on Internet of Things (IoT) devices and smart appliances.
Speaking about interoperability of smart appliances, the chairman of WG Smart Living within APPLiA and the Energy Strategy Senior Manager at Whirlpool, Marco Signa explained that smart appliances are already capable to communicate and interact with a third-party energy manager. “Back in 2017, EEBUS, Energy@home and APPLiA joined forces and demonstrated several times that already existing different home appliances, brands, technologies and protocols can successfully communicate with each other”, Signa highlighted.
In a day when the result of Brexit was unfolding, the three associations also discussed that a risk of divergence in the UK from EU regulation and standards associated with the industry is ever present. The three associations, representing home appliance manufacturers around Europe, agree that the product legislation and requirements must remain aligned between the EU and UK to continue trading post-Brexit.