The Internet’s success is largely due to work done behind-the-scenes including efforts to ensure that everyone uses the same standards, so that all devices can talk properly to each other. The Internet relies on open standards that are developed through collaborative and consensus based processes. Open standards are freely available to anyone to use. Engineers, researchers, and governments all have a place in these processes. In contrast, closed processes can limit innovation and competition by restricting access to the development process and favoring the interests of a few stakeholders. Closed processes can also lead to proprietary technologies that lock users into specific products or vendors, limiting choice and hindering interoperability. During this session, panelists from different stakeholder groups involved in standards development processes will share real world examples demonstrating the importance of open standards for the Internet. They will also explore some of the challenges confronting open standards processes. We encourage online as well as onsite participants. The technical standards community is very familiar with working on hybrid formats. The moderators and speaker are very experienced in this format, know the issues very well and will be able to easily guide the audience through the topic.