Open standards delivered stable or FIGURE 11 increasing value over the last three years INNOVATION THROUGH STANDARDS SUCH AS Open standards have been gaining traction across various indus- VIDEO STREAMING CODECS IS BEST ACHIEVED tries as a development and innovation methodology. THROUGH OPEN STANDARDS We hypothesize that this is because the necessary characteristics of open standards—public availability of the final specification For standards such as video streaming codecs, and RF for implementers—have consistently delivered competitive which approach will provide the most innovative benefits, greater innovation, cost savings, and other advantages value to the industry? (select one) over time. Our findings greatly support this idea, and FIGURE 12 shows that 64% of organizations in our survey reported that the value provided by open standards to their organizations has Op�n 67% increased over the last three years. In contrast, only 5% of organi- �tandard� zations indicate that the value derived from open standards has decreased, and 32% believe that the value remains unchanged. Th� 19% These findings offer a powerful testimony to the multidimen- �am� sional value proposition of open standards and the significance of open standards in today’s rapidly evolving technological land- Clo��d 14% scape. An overwhelming 95% of organizations state that the �tandard� value derived from open standards either remains constant (32%) or is increasing (64%), with only a small percentage reporting a 2023 STATE OF OPEN STANDARDS SURVEY, Q35 (TABLE A40), SAMPLE SIZE = 421, N/A decrease in value. We can expect to see greater adoption and RESPONSES EXCLUDED FROM THE ANALYSIS. development of open standards in the near future. Contributions to open standards provide industry. This highlights the finding that these approaches drive a variety of hard and soft benefits innovation differently, depending on the specific circumstances and requirements of the industry. While, as our study finds, open Contributing to open standards development brings a plethora FIGURE 13 standards are preferred and provide more overall benefits, RAND of benefits to address business and customer needs. standards can offer unique benefits in certain situations, such as shows that 84% of respondents agree that their organization when protecting proprietary technologies or focusing on special- should contribute to an open standard to improve its overall ized solutions that require significant investment and dedicated quality, and 79% feel the same way about security. This reflects expertise. In some cases, a combination of RF and royalty-bearing the widespread acceptance of “Linus’s Law” as a development standards might be necessary to strike a balance between encour- approach—because open standards are available for everyone aging widespread collaboration and protecting critical IP. to review, implement, and thus find areas of improvement and THE 2023 STATE OF OPEN STANDARDS EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON THE TRANSITION TO OPEN STANDARDS 26