At ETSI’s general assembly meeting on the 3rd and 4th of December this year, ITS CEO Bettina Funk was reelected as chairman of ETSI’s general assembly starting January 1st 2025 and through December 31st 2026. We sat down with Bettina to hear her thoughts on ETSI’s work and the two upcoming years as chairman.

How does it feel to have been officially reelected as chairman of the ETSI General Assembly?

“It feels great! It wasn’t a proper election, though. The members actually asked me in the beginning of 2024 if I would be willing to continue as chairman for another term,” says Bettina.

“And that is, of course, really nice, as it shows that the members trust me. Then, when the new director-general was elected this past spring, I confirmed that I would be willing to continue as chairman.”

How has the election of the new director-general influenced your decision to continue as chairman?

“I led the workgroup responsible for finding candidates for the position. My goal was to find a director-general who would be able to help the members make changes to the ETSI secretariat. It was a necessary step in order for us to respond to changes in the European standardisation system,” Bettina explains.

“Therefore, I was thrilled when the members elected Jan. The first months with the new director-general have also proven that he listens to the members’ requests,” she continues.

“Jan has increased the transparency in several ways, and the members now have much better insight into what’s happening in the organisation. Continuing as chairman in an environment filled with trust and cooperation is lovely.”

“When I first applied to be chairman of ETSI in 2022, I wrote that I wanted to help the members shape the statutes in a way that would allow ETSI to continue as a European standardisation organisation. And we have truly succeeded in that during these past two years. During the upcoming two years, we will continue building on that foundation.”

What is your biggest challenge as chairman?

“I’d say that the biggest challenge for all ETSI members is really the French legislation. It’s not as easy to achieve change within ETSI as an organisation under French law as it may have been in other European countries. That can lead to a lot of frustration,” Bettina answers.

“The biggest challenge for my position specifically is that it’s difficult to get members interested in the organisation itself. Many are very focused on writing the technical specifications and less interested in how the organisation works,” she continues.

“ETSI has grown a lot in the past few years. That is, of course, a good thing, but it also means that the gap between those who make decisions that affect the organisation and those who just focus on the standards increases. But how the organisation works affects the standard work – that’s why I believe a common understanding of both the organisation and the standard work is crucial.”

Tell us more about how ETSI has grown these past few years!

“ETSI has its roots in the telecommunication sector. With time, the mobile network and what we call the internet have grown together more and more. That has meant that ETSI has needed to broaden its area of operation to include adjacent areas,” says Bettina.

“Today, the organisation consists of not only the traditional groups that make radio and telecommunication standards. We now also have groups in several other areas such as cyber-security, quantum technology, and sustainability,” she explains.

Are there other standardisation organisations that work with these areas? And how do they collaborate with ETSI?

“Yes, there are several other organisations that ETSI collaborates with. ETSI, CEN, and CENELEC, for example, have a common technical workgroup as well as a policy group that discusses things like how we can improve our collaboration. Today, it consists of CEN and CENELEC’s presidents and two each of their vice presidents, the ETSI General Assembly leadership, and the director-generals of ETSI and CEN-CENELEC,” Bettina explains.

“During 2025, I’ll be leading that group. The plan is for us to discuss how we can collaborate better when it comes to the documents we produce for the European Commission.”