Technology Standards and Standard Setting Organizations: Introduction to the Searle Center Database

This paper describes the Searle Center Database on Technology Standards and Standard Setting Organizations (SSOs). This database combines comprehensive information on technology standards, SSO membership, and SSO characteristics in a format designed for economic research. In particular, the database includes data on quantifiable characteristics of 797,711 standard documents issued by 615 SSOs, institutional membership in a sample of 191 Standards Organizations, and the rules of 36 SSOs on standard adoption procedures, standard-essential patents (SEPs), participation, and openness. Using the Internet Archives, we track both institutional membership and the SSO rules and procedures over time since the inception of the Archives in 1996. We identify 67,417 entities participating in at least one Standards Organization. The paper describes how to combine these data with other new databases on standard-related patents and standardization processes at 3GPP; and sketches avenues for empirical research.