Wer die Norm setzt, macht den Markt. Whoever sets the standard makes the market. Klaus Wucherer, a member of the Siemens managing board, said it in September 2006, at the opening of a world congress of the electrical and IT industry. In 2007 the director of DIN, Torsten Bahke, said: Wer den Standard setzt, hat den Markt.
A version of the saying is often attributed to Werner von Siemens. No source for that attribution has been found. In 2012 Werner Fischer, who headed standardization at Siemens, put the thought another way. Wenn wir nicht normen, dann werden wir genormt. If we do not set standards, standards will be set for us.