Bridging the Gap between Internet Standardization and Networking Research

The participation of the network research community in the Internet Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) has been relatively low over the recent years, and this has drawn attention from both academics and industry due to its possible negative impact. The reasons for this gap are complex and extend beyond the purely technical. In this editorial we share our views on this challenge, based on the experience we have obtained from joint projects with universities and companies. We highlight the lessons learned, covering both successful and under-performing cases, and suggest viable approaches to bridge the gap between networking research and Internet standardization, aiming to promote and maximize the outcome of such collaborative endeavours.