IEC's centennial event:
WTO's Pascal Lamy addresses IEC centennial event in Berlin

A giant CD floats through the solar system, butterflies flitter around a lightbulb with a cocoon inside, tiny trams move over giant green leaves, solar-powered dragonflies cruise through space and fish swim above pink optical fibres on a huge screen 18m wide by 4m high. These images, which have been used throughout 2006 to illustrate the theme "Electrotechnology. A natural passion" were the backdrop for a two-hour IEC centennial event held in Berlin on 29 September 2006 that featured World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy as guest of honour.

Pascal Lamy, World Trade Organization Director General, addresses IEC centennial event by video link from Geneva.

By videoconference from Geneva, Lamy said: "As WTO members have accumulated experience over the years in applying both the TBT Agreement and international norms, they agreed in the year 2000 on certain "principles" that they would work towards in international standards development. These principles were not intended to dictate to  international standardizing bodies what they should do, but rather to give guidance to each and every WTO member on the values that they should be trying to promote."

The five principles Lamy spoke about were openness and transparency, impartiality and consensus, effectiveness and relevance, coherence, and development.

"Now, were these principles or ‘best practices' to be followed," Lamy said, "I have no doubt that international standards would indeed enhance global welfare. Standards that serve the interests of only a few can do quite the opposite."

Commitment and passion
The show emphasized how committed people who are passionate about their interests develop technology and then go on to use it as the basis of doing business, which in turn creates the global trading system. It emphasized the central role of the IEC in all of this, focusing on how IEC national committees remain key to the process in terms of choosing the technologies to be standardized, overseeing the processes of doing the work and maintaining a leadership role in the organization.

IEC General Secretary Aharon Amit began the show and then handed it over to Master of Ceremonies, Professor Michael Yaziji of IMD business school in Lausanne, Switzerland. In the various segments of the show, he talked about recognition for achievement, leadership qualities, why inventions become commercial products, and the importance of international organizations.

The event featured a congratulatory letter to the IEC from UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, in which he wrote: "The IEC's global work for electrical safety makes an important contribution to our efforts to build a better world for all people.  From mobile phones to medical equipment, from transport to television and the latest information technologies, the IEC's efforts to forge standards provide some of the very building blocks of sustainable human development."

Master of Ceremonies, Michael Yaziji, presents congratulatory letter to the IEC from UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan

"The way in which the IEC works is also significant.  In an increasingly interdependent world, international cooperation is more vital than ever.  It is heartening, therefore, that the IEC brings together not just Governments but also industry and consumers; not just developed countries but also the developing world; and not just paid employees but also thousands of volunteers, including scholars and end-users."

There was also a message from former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who, as an electrical engineer, is also a former President of the Chinese National Committee of the IEC. It discussed how important the IEC is to Chinese industry and mentioned how he recalls with fondness his years with the IEC.

Giant screens animated the room at the Maritim Hotel in Berlin, the setting for the IEC centennial event.

Lord Kelvin Award
The afternoon included the 2006 IEC Lord Kelvin Award going to Wolfgang Reichelt, owner of Block Transformatoren-Elektronik in Germany and Secretary of IEC Technical Committee 96, and presentation of honorary pins to six IEC Past Presidents: Roy McDowell, Richard Brett, Hans Gissel, Bernie Falk, Mathias Fünfschilling and Sei-ichi Takayanagi.

Highlights included four short films projected in high-definition. The first traced the historical development of the IEC, the second showed how engineers transform natural phenomena to electrical energy. The third covered the benefits given to the market by the IEC while the fourth gave insights into the future.