Our birthday Standards Heroes have been nominated by their peers to represent all our contributors - individuals we consider to be the real heroes of standards, in Australia and internationally. We thank those who contribute their knowledge and expertise, service, and time to Standards Australia for the benefit of the Australian community.    

Jennifer George is the CEO of Strategic Commercialisation Australia Pty Ltd, a consultancy which partners with businesses to integrate Engineering and ICT innovations to build long term growth strategies. Jennifer has worked on projects in more than 50 industry sectors, including new energy, biotech, agriculture, bioinformatics, telecommunications, and Smart Cities. Jennifer is currently the chairperson for IT-268 Sustainable Cities and Communities and is a participating member of SC-001 Smart Cities Advisory Group, IT-268-00-01 ISO/TC 268 International Participation Delegates and IT-268-00-02 5G.      
How did you become involved in standards development? 

I attended a seminar about privacy standards with Engineers Australia when this committee was being established.  

What role have standards played in your career?   

Standards provide certainty for international growth and innovation scaling generally.  As a commercialisation expert working with innovators, it is good to refer others to existing standards that might help them on their journey.  

What is a project you’ve been particularly proud to have helped deliver? 

The Standards Roadmap for Smart Cities and communities as a contributory writer.  

Outside of standards development, what have been some highlights of your career? 

Commercialising more than 50 technologies and making several successful businesses that will impact human health and the environment.

What do you think the future of standardisation looks like? 

Still necessary but more difficult. The rate of change is accelerating so the current standards creation processes will need to be streamlined somehow.  Additionally, I foresee that collaborative solutions will become more prevalent so standards which operate in discreet tech will need to be integrated and the standards adapted will be quite different.  In many ways in an interconnected world standards and deliverables will be more important. As new climate change technologies are introduced, we will need new standards.  What works in the lab may not work in production. .

Is there anything you’d like to say or mention about Standards Australia’s centenary year? 

Thank you to the support team - Larissa Carvalho and Lauren Russo and the dedicated and articulate team of committee members who contribute their wisdom on a monthly basis.