Open standards: A shrinking public space in the future network economy?

The capacity to sustain most communities depends on their access to technical, economic and political resources. The interaction among technologies, markets and government policies that direct technology and market activity generates the resources. Most countries, and many international agencies have adopted information society policies to promote broadband infrastructure and NGN development as a platform for ICT applications. The goals are economic development and universal access, i.e., more inclusive communities. This paper examines how ICT sector market and policy trends are influencing the environment for developing innovative NGN applications and their essential supporting standards. The interaction between ever more expansive and generous patent and copyright (IPR) awards in the ICT sector with the winner-take-all network characteristics of most ICT and content markets is fostering oligopoly markets based on proprietary standards. This trend toward increasing policy-permitted standards and market exclusivity as the foundation for asset values and industry growth steadily narrows the scope for NGN applications based on open standards. It reduces opportunities for participation in the development of future knowledge communities. A major initiative is proposed to build the evidentiary and analytical support for policy reforms that will reverse this trend.