A group of more than 15 countries has created the International Smart Grid Action Network (ISGAN) to drive global cooperation on smart electric grids. The effort was announced after a meeting hosted by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, Dr Stephen Chu who also hosted  an industry workshop on electric vehicles.

The ISGAN will collaborate on smart grid policies and regulations, standards, pre-competitive research, workforce skills and consumer education. It is supported by Governments from Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, the European Commission, France, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom as well as the United States.

ISGAN will work with the International Energy Agency to develop a global smart grid road map highlighting technology and policies areas where governments can collaborate. It will create a forum to discuss standards policy for infrastructure needed to charge plug-in electric vehicles, and it will develop a set of case studies of successful projects.

In parallel with setting up ISGAN, the smart grid industry has formed an international trade alliance. The Global Smart Grid Federation is an association of associations, linking groups such as Smart Grid Australia, the GridWise Alliance in the U.S. and other counterparts in Canada, India, Japan and South Korea.