Research and innovation are essential for Germany's economic and technological strength, and successful innovations are needed to further consolidate Germany's position among its global competitors. Technical standards and specifications can make a major contribution to these developments. 
To further promote standardization (both formal and informal) as an instrument for innovation, the "Research, Innovation and Development Presidial Committee (SO-FIE)" was set up by the DIN Presidial Board in 2008. 
SO-FIE's main task is to coordinate and steer all work within DIN's Standards Committees which involves innovation and standardization; this includes 

• steering and supporting R&D phase standardization (EBN) within DIN, 
• consulting and decision-making in projects dealing with the promotion of innovation, 
• helping to develop innovative topics in standards work and standardization,
• networking standards work among research organizations and integrating the idea of standardization in research and education, including non-academic education, 
• coordinating measures for using standards and specifications to transfer research results to industry, 
• coordinating measures for determining the need for standardization on the basis of research projects and results, 
• consulting DIN's decision-making bodies in the evaluation of innovative topics and research topics as subjects for standardization.