INSTAR EU-Canada Week on ICT Standardisation
Background
The European Union (EU) and Canada have long-established agreements, as reiterated in the recent EU-Canada summit (23/06/2025) , that underpin a strong and forward-looking cooperation for the digital era. These include the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which facilitates trade and investment, and the EU-Canada Digital Partnership, launched to enhance collaboration on digital policy and technology governance. Such agreements reflect the EU and Canada’s shared commitment for a secure, inclusive, and human-centric digital transformation, that will enable them to maintain their sovereignty and competitiveness among technological and geopolitical shifts. In line with the EU International Digital strategy, the European Union will continue to promote its values-based approach on digital governance and digital standards to shape a global digital transformation that is human-centric, trustworthy, and respects human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Ahead of the first EU-Canada Digital Partnership Council, anticipated later this year, The INSTAR EU-Canada Week on ICT Standardisation, co-organised with the Digital Governance Council, builds on this strong policy foundation through a series of expert-led workshops aimed at aligning approaches to international ICT standards. Organised by INSTAR, with the support of the European Commission (EC), EU Delegation in Canada, ETSI and CEN CENELEC, this initiative seeks to strengthen the EU and its international like-minded partners’ influence in global ICT standardisation, while promoting inclusive, human-centric, transparent, and interoperable standards.
By bringing together domain experts, industry stakeholders, policymakers and standards bodies from both jurisdictions, and beyond, the EU-Canada Digital Partnership Week will serve as a platform for dialogue, knowledge exchange, and joint action. It will reinstate shared priorities, as identified in the EU-Canada Digital Partnership, address standardisation challenges, and contribute to a more harmonised and resilient global digital ecosystem, anchored in democratic values and technological excellence. The sessions aim to identify concrete opportunities to scale up existing and emerging joint initiatives, while laying the groundwork for sustained, long-term cooperation between the EU and Canada.
Themes
The EU-Canada Week will explore standardisation challenges across three key technology domains:
- Dataspaces
- Cloud-Edge-IoT (CEI)
- Quantum technologies.
Discussions will focus on cross-cutting themes, including connectivity, interoperability and security and trust.
Format
The EU-Canada Digital Partnership Week encompasses three thematic workshops (1.5 – 2 hours) delivered online on Zoom provided by INSTAR. These multi-stakeholder sessions will include keynote speeches, expert presentations, roundtables and panel discussions. They will also allow the audience to ask questions and contribute insights via the chat and in a dedicated Q&A slot.
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Day 1, 14 October 2025
Cloud-Edge-IoT (CEI): Building cross-sectoral standardisation interfaces
Cloud-Edge-IoT standardisation is a key enabler of digital innovation across various sectors worldwide, including mobility, energy and manufacturing. It is also a critical component of the twin Green and Digital transition. In this session, INSTAR will bring forward the outcomes of the workshop on “Cross-Domain Standardisation and Architecture for IoT and Edge Computing” with South Korea’s TTA, and onto the table with the Canadian counterparts. The aim is to align on key strategic and technical aspects, to facilitate greater interoperability across the Cloud to Edge Continuum and promote industrial competitiveness across the two jurisdictions through trade.
Day 2, 15 October 2025
Dataspaces: data Interoperability, trusted channels, data flows and transactions
Data sharing, data spaces including interoperability and maturity, as well as trusted data frameworks, including transactions, have emerged as core priorities in INSTAR’s European Task Force on Data. This session will underscore the work performed so far in the EU and Canada, through initiatives like NGI, or in the IDSA, and start to identify a pathway for making the Common European Data Spaces interoperable and accessible across the Atlantic.
Day 3, 16 October 2025
Quantum and Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC)
Quantum technologies is a common strategic priority for the EU and Canada. The EU’s International Digital Strategy highlights a commitment to establish with Canada collaborative projects in quantum computing, sensing, and communication, leveraging Canada’s National Quantum Strategy and existing research hubs. That said, “the EU remains attentive to the role of quantum technologies in the future security landscape” which emphasises the need for a proactive approach towards post-quantum cryptography and standards. This session will bring together standardisation experts, industry players and policymakers from the two jurisdictions to present their respective activities and concretely explore collaboration opportunities on quantum and PQC standardisation.
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