Other relevant actors for defining standards  

Standards will evolve over time, and it is important to include people from different backgrounds in the development of standards. For example, groups that represent consumers or other industrial partners from non-BioTech areas. Human factors can be critical and it is important to have all the different stakeholders on-board and involved in the conversation. The important question here is when to involve these groups. For example, in the case of consumers, maybe it is not a good idea to involve them at the early stages, but we have to be aware that eventually standards will impact the consumer. Do we want to develop things that eventually are going to be too expensive? Will it be something that can only be useable by a small fraction of the population?

Other key actors are the authorities and regulatory agencies. It is important to note here the distinction between standards and regulations, although there is an intersection: new regulations require the design of new standards.