Tecnalia receives une standards and innovation award

UNE, The Spanish Standardisation Body, recently awarded its 2020 UNE Prizes, given to persons and organisations who make a meaningful contribution to standardisation.

The prizes were awarded during this year's online edition of the annual meeting of Chairs and Secretaries of Technical Standardisation Committees (CTN), which brought together a total of 200 participants from sector associations, businesses, public administrations and other organisations. The meetings foster the multi-sectoral collaborative environment represented by UNE, building alliances as a means of responding effectively to the needs of Spanish businesses and government agencies.

The UNE awards for Best Chairperson, CTN and CTN Member are given to persons and organisations for outstanding involvement in the formulation of UNE standards. They also celebrate the integration of standards in innovation.

This year's prizes, by category, went to:

• UNE Award for Best Chair of 2020: Manuel Carbó, Chairman of Committee CTN 118 Tobacco and Tobacco Products. Carbó was awarded the prize for his work in driving the activities of the CTN. He is Director of the Research and Quality Control Centre at the Ministry of Health, Consumer Issues and Social Welfare General Directorate for Consumer Issues.
• UNE Award for Best CTN: CTN 211 Power Cables, of which the FACEL, the Spanish Association of Manufacturers of Power Lines and Conductors and Optic Fibre, is secretary. The award was picked up by the association's Secretary, Xavier Cesari. The Committee received the award for its positive impact on sector organisations, its capacity to energise, and its professionalism in complying with the procedures established in the standardisation system.
• UNE Award for Best CTN Member: Roberto Arias and Susana Rodríguez, from Zitrón, as members of CTN 100 HVAC. The award honours the Committee's dedication and record in the field. Zitrón manufactures ventilation systems for tunnels and has been committed to standardisation for more than 15 years.
• UNE Award for Integration of Standardisation and Innovation. This award was granted to TECNALIA, represented by its CEO Iñaki San Sebastian,. for its outstanding contribution to integrating standardisation in R&D and innovation activities. As well as taking part in more than 40 technical standardisation organisations, TECNALIA has worked with UNE on drawing up 26 proposals for European Horizon 2020 projects.

The prizes are awarded by the Spanish Standardisation Body to honour the commitment and professionalism of more than 12,000 experts and 6,000 organisations working actively to draw up technical standards in the 219 UNE standardisation committees.

They are also intended as a means of fostering the multi-sectoral collaborative environment represented by UNE, building alliances as a means of responding effectively to the needs of Spanish businesses and government agencies.

Attendants at this year's online meeting of Chairs and Secretaries of the UNE CTNs included UNE Chairman, Carlos Esteban, and CEO, Javier García.