Innovation and standardization: Yin and Yang for policy in motion

A cycle of innovation and standardization The setting is the Internet; the time is a moment ripe for improvement. In a typical scenario innovative Ôrunning codeÕ will be proposed, after which a trial period ensues. There may be a competition with similar proposals (and certainly a competition with the established ideas), along with improvements based on trial results. After some period, the mode switches to standard setting. The appropriate group in the IETF takes responsibility, there may be a melding of the different ideas advanced in the trial, and a standard is eventually set. There is a cycle between innovation and standardization. The activity in the first half of the cycle is creativity, experimentation and competition; in the second half, consensus-making for the standard. This cycle is the basic building block, repeating potentially countless times, for new ideas both big and small. In a network environment, such as the Internet, this cycling between the innovation and some new