Interdisciplinary Metrology addresses all transversal cooperation activities of INRIM, mainly with European and international metrological organisations and with other NMIs. Most of the activity is within EUROMET, particularly as regards its transformation into a legal entity, and for the development of the iMERA project (http://www.euromet.org/projects/imera/index.html) in preparation for the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP).

Within the iMERA project, INRIM is responsible for the three tasks on "Foresight" and is partner or contributor to a number of other tasks. In 2006, on the following Foresight tasks, the main activities were:

• T1.2 - Overview of national foresight processes. Completed on May 2006 with a report on the analysis of the process aspects identified by means of an ad hoc questionnaire previously prepared. It also contributed to a joint inter-task comparative study on national processes for Foresight, Prioritisation, Knowledge Transfer and Impact Assessment.
• T2.1 - Assessing existing foresight information. Completed on October 2006 with a final report (70 pp.) integrating the information from both processes and contents of national foresight studies, these latter supplemented by additional information requested to the respondent NMIs.
• - T3.1 - Joint foresight studies. This part is running and will be completed by the end of the iMERA project (April 2008). The main achievements were:

- Organisation of two Task Team meetings (in LNE and in Berlin);
- Organisation of the first stakeholder workshop on "Metrology needs and measurement priorities in the health sector" (Berlin, 6-7 December 2006);
- Identification and planning of the next stakeholder workshops (Energy, Environment) and focus group meeting (Security).


Other iMERA tasks on which INRIM has been active were related to:

• Measuring the impact of national metrology R&D programmes in Europe: organisation of the Impact Workshop held in Torino on October);
• Addressing intellectual property issues;
• Dissemination of iMERA results outside Europe (a paper and a round table in the IMEKO XVIII World Congress, in Brazil) and at national level;
• The launch of some pilot Joint Research Projects (JRP);
• Special Facilities (SF): offer of one INRIM special SF (1 MN force standard) and use of one SF from PTB (thin film production);
• Participation in the meetings of the Network Management Committee and of the Network Steering Committee of iMERA and organisation of the iMERA mid-term meeting held in Torino (25-28 October 2006);
• Reporting activities (e.g. 18-month interim report and relevant cost statement).

A large effort was addressed in other tasks related to the preparation of the EMRP (including contributions to the iMERA document EMRP Outlines) as an activity within article 169 of the European Treaty, and relevant needs (structures, funding, byelaws) for a new legal entity - EURAMET, and for adapting the EUROMET structures to facilitate joint ERA-NET projects. Special attention was paid to the positions and concerns of INMRI-ENEA, the Italian NMI for ionising radiations.
In addition to the iMERA project, the activities of Interdisciplinary Metrology included various planning and reporting activities for INRIM and some ends of reporting to CNR, and participation in a number of meetings, such as: EUROMET Executive Committee (as invited guest) ; EUROMET General Assembly; EUROMET TC-Quality (chaired until June 2006); EUROMET TC- IntMet (chaired from June 2006); JCRB meetings of Berlin and Sèvres. Among the activities of TC-Q, a report was presented at its annual meeting on the analysis of a questionnaire prepared to evaluate the status of Certified Reference Materials in Appendix C of the CIPM-MRA and the applicability of ISO Guide 34 within the European NMIs.
Within the remits of Interdisciplinary Metrology is the cooperation with the Comitato Centrale Metrico (legal metrology) and with the Technical Central Secretariat and Geometrical Product Specifications TC (chair) of UNI (the national standardisation body).