The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) recently brought out a new publication entitled “Quality Infrastructure and Digitalization”. This latest issue in PTB’s Compact series focuses on the relation between quality infrastructure (QI) and digitalization. It is available in German and will soon be available in English too.
Digital transformation is a process visible in our daily lives. Every day new possibilities are arising for households, businesses and industries thanks to digital data flows. QI has a crucial double role in this new digital world: on the one hand, it needs to provide quality assurance services for new digital processes, products and services. And on the other hand, QI itself can benefit from digital transformation, including its own transformation with goals to increase and deepen its impact on sustainable development. In this new and upcoming area, the key to creating solutions for global challenges and a mutually compatible, harmonized system is cooperation.
When it comes to initiating this form of cooperation within the digital transformation of metrology, PTB is an active player. It hosted the global Capacity Building in Technical and Scientific Organizations Using Regional Experience and Knowledge (CABUREK) programme as part of the Metrology for Digital Transformation in International Cooperation project. CABUREK unites representatives from 30 national metrology institutes from across the globe to jointly address the topic of digital transformation. This methodology facilitates the exchange of experiences and best practices among peers. And it also encourages the participating institutions to become more user-centred by establishing stronger relationships with their stakeholders and adapting what they offer to their users’ needs. CABUREK is implemented in close cooperation between PTB’s Metrology for Digital Transformation and International Cooperation departments.
In total, 37 international participants were invited to the 2024 IMEKO World Congress. This international metrology conference was hosted by PTB in Hamburg from 26 to 29 August 2024. Well-functioning metrology, as part of the QI, forms the basis for international trade. In addition, it removes technical barriers to trade, boosts competitiveness and fosters the realization of fair trade. The meeting at the congress allowed participants from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe to strengthen their ties and appreciate presentations and workshops by leading metrologists and other high-ranking speakers. Most of the participating countries were represented at this type of format for the first time at an international level, and they were given the opportunity to make important contacts to develop their own metrological systems.
At the congress, the project approach based on PTB’s CABUREK methodology was presented in a dedicated session. This was organized entirely by PTB’s partners who were able to contribute their perspectives and demonstrate the need to consider viewpoints from the global South to the IMEKO attendees from the private sector and QI institutions.
After the IMEKO World Congress, the participants came together for the second CABUREK workshop at PTB in Braunschweig. During this event, they discussed and further developed their individual project plans for the elaboration of digital transformation strategies, the implementation of the digital calibration certificate (DCC) and digital process management in their respective institutes. This will help to ensure that the national metrology institutes can also contribute to sustainable development in an increasingly broad and deeply digitalized world. Their stay in Germany provided direct access to their coaches from PTB and intensified the exchanges between the participants in a very productive way. They are now headed back to their home countries where they will continue to implement their project plans, accompanied by the CABUREK process.
Cover image © PTB
