Geerten van de Kaa is Associate Professor of Standardization and Business Strategy at Delft University of Technology, and Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Standardisation. In the past years, he has worked on various EU and NWO funded research projects. His research has appeared in high-ranking international journals, including Organization Studies, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Technovation, and Technological Forecasting and Social Change.  At TU Delft he teaches courses on technology strategy and standardisation. He holds a PhD from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.

secretary: Suzanne Kamp; +31 15 27 81150; s.kamp-vanrijnsoever@tudelft.nl

My research focuses on a better understanding of the process of developing standards, with the goal of enabling complex innovations and solving societal and business challenges. Standards are, one could say, the invisible glue that make worldwide economic cooperation in value chains possible. They make products and parts compatible, clarify mutual expectations that partners may have of each other, guarantee a minimum level of quality and safety, and in the best cases even ensure that products meet ethical and societal values. 

In some cases, standards come about in a collaborative process between all stakeholders, in which national and international standards institutes may play a key role. However, more often than not standards emerge as a result of a complex interplay between market mechanisms, policies, and strategies of individual firms. And sometimes they are the outcome of a fierce battle between companies trying to gain dominance in the market by dictating the standard. 

Which factors determine if and how standards come about? What can companies and governments do to positively influence this process? Those are two central questions in my research.

Ongoing and completed projects

• 2023-2026: European Union - HorizonEurope Edu4standards
• 2020-2024: European Union - Horizon2020 “Co-Create Change in Research Funding and Performing (Co-Change)”
• 2019-2021: European Union – Grow: Functions and Effects of European Standards and Standardisation in the EU and EFTA Member States
• 2018-2021: European Union - Horizon2020 “webs of Innovation and value chains of Additive Manufacturing under consideration of Responsible Research and Innovation (I AM RRI)
• 2015-2019: NWO: Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research “Capturing the societal value of smart energy systems”