Interdisciplinary Metrology

This formerly CNR commessa (job order) was addressed to all transversal (interdisciplinary) cooperation activities of the (then) IMGC. Main focus was in the cooperation with European and international metrological organisations, including also the cooperation with other metrology related national bodies.

Within EUROMET, the main activity was the participation in the project "implementing Metrology in the European Research Area" (iMERA), a European project of the 6th Framework Programme within the ERA-NET scheme, started on April 2005.




By quoting from http://www.euromet.org/projects/imera/index.html, "the objective of iMERA is to increase impact from national investment in European metrology R&D. iMERA will enable the national Governments from participating countries to significantly increase the national and European impact of their investment in R&D in metrology. This investment underpins expenditure of more than €83 billion per year, or nearly 1% of EU GDP, on measurement activity from directly quantifiable sources alone, generating almost €230 billion of directly estimable benefits. iMERA proposes a step-by-step approach. Exchange of information between the national programmes will enable best practice to be identified and adopted - increasing the impact from the national programmes. Building on this a substantial increase in project level collaboration is foreseen. Strategic activities will lead to the launching of joint research projects, with defined work plans, resources, responsibilities and time scales - funded by the existing national programmes. Access to special metrological facilities available in just a single or few countries will be opened and the viability of joint investments in new facilities explored. The final aim of the project is very ambitious - a joint metrology R&D programme. Scope, stakeholder needs, national funding contributions, legal issues, obstacles for national participation and appropriate organisational structures will all be addressed. This phase culminates in the preparation of a European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP) with the prospect of launching the initiative in a joint action between the European Commission and interested countries utilising Article 169 of European Treaty."

Results

Within iMERA, the IMGC (now INRIM) is responsible for the three tasks on " Foresight" (T1.2 - Overview of national foresight processes, T2.1 - Assessing existing foresight information and T3.1 - Joint foresight studies) and is partner or contributor to some 22 other tasks.

On the "Foresight"side (in a fruitful cooperation with CERIS- CNR), the main activities in 2005 were:

  • Development and distribution of a wide questionnaire (12 pp), including a brief tutorial appendix on the main methods used in Foresight.
  • Compilation and first analysis of the collated answers.
  • Organisation and chair of the one-day workshop in Ljubljana (October 17th 2005) on national foresight activities.
  • Viewgraphs presentation and discussion in the Ljubljana workshop of the first analysis of the findings from the T1.2 questionnaire and of the next steps.
  • Detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis (graphs and statistics) of the specific answers to the issues raised in the questionnaire.

For the other various tasks, the main activities were:

  • Preparation and finalisation of the Italian answers to:

    • - LNE questionnaire on national programme landscaping
    - IMGC questionnaire on national foresight processes
    - NPL questionnaire on national prioritisation processes
    - SP questionnaire on knowledge transfer activities
    - NMi Questionnaire on measuring the impact of national metrology R&D programmes
    - JV (internet based) questionnaire on understanding ICT tools


  • Participation in the "iMERA week"of workshops/meetings in Ljubljana.
  • Participation in the Berlin meeting (workshop on KT and Programme owners/managers forum).
  • Launch of the initiatives on:

    • - Joint research projects
    - Roadmapping
    - Opening of special facilities
    - Legal issues and developing new structures for EUROMET and for the Art. 169 of European Treaty
    - Dissemination


  • Participation in the Berlin meeting (workshop on KT and Programme owners/managers forum).
  • Participation in the Network Management Committee and in the Network Steering Committee of iMERA.

All these iMERA activities were coordinated with IEN and INMRI -ENEA.

In addition to the iMERA project, the activities in 2005 of Interdisciplinary Metrology included the participation in:

  • EUROMET Executive Committee and General Assembly
  • EUROMET TC-Quality (Chair) and TC- IntMet (member)
  • JCRB meetings of Minsk and Sèvres
  • Planning and reporting activities for both CNR and INRIM
  • Accreditation assistance in Tunisia (by Antonio Rivetti) within a Consortium with EuroConsultants for a Programme of Industrial Modernisation on "Quality, Metrology and Competitivity Improvement"
  • Various meetings at the CNR and at the Comitato Centrale Metrico (legal metrology) of MAP (now MSE), and cooperation with UNI (the national standardising body).