Today, 22 March, World Water Day is celebrated around the globe. Every year, a different aspect of the vital role of water in our daily lives is highlighted. In 2022, groundwater is the centre of attention. World Water Day will thus aim to make the invisible visible. But not only groundwater is invisible. There is…
Expanding production capacities for vaccines is an important instrument to prevent and fight global pandemics. New approaches aimed toward finding solutions for local vaccine production are being provided by BioNTech through modular containers called “BioNTainer”. With this invention – the name being a cross between container and the company name BioNTech – COVID-19 vaccines will…
This is the premise behind our Animatic A World Without Quality Infrastructure.We humans like to close our eyes to unpleasant topics. Nevertheless, we have spent the last few months creating a film that exemplifies some misfortunes. The solution to how such accidents can be avoided is provided in the animatic – it is a functioning…
Virtual training in cement testing Of all the urban structures due to be built in Africa by 2050, only 20 percent have been completed to date. In other words, 80 percent of the structures planned for the continent’s cities will be constructed within the next 30 years. What’s more, by the end of the century,…
For many people around the world, the start of the coronavirus pandemic also marked the start of their experience in working from home. We at PTB’s International Cooperation group were no exception, nor were our partner institutions in the technical cooperation projects.This new situation sharpened our attitudes about the importance of information security and data…
We are proud to report that an article written by our partners in Nicaragua about our joint cooperation to improve water quality has been published in the journal Scientific Reports. Having this article published is a great success and we hope that it will help raise awareness of this important issue. Reliable water resources are…
Through what virtual formats can hands-on laboratory training be conducted when the on-site presence of all participants and the trainer is not possible? This question was already addressed by the PTB Capacity Development working group at an exchange of experience in February 2021. As a fruitful outcome of this event, the Virtual Hands-on Laboratory Training…
The promotion of drug and vaccine manufacturing, strengthening the regulatory framework or the harmonization of standards and their implementation — the intervention areas of quality infrastructure in the pharmaceutical sector in Africa are manifold. The need for efforts in these areas is greater than ever, especially in the current situation: The COVID-19 pandemic has shown…
The metric system was introduced in Germany 150 years ago Introducing a uniform measurement system that was acceptable throughout the world was far less a scientific achievement than a political one. Whereas the previous systems of units reflected the regional balances of power (as demonstrated by the various princely ells), the metric system won people…
The increasing availability of Covid-19 vaccines was an encouraging breakthrough in 2021 that turned a lot of things around. However, the pandemic is not over, and many of the challenges we encountered in 2020 remained. With a few exceptions, most of PTB’s International Cooperation activities therefore still took place in a virtual setting, and working…