European Association of National Metrology Institutes

European Metrology for Europe´s Future

European Metrology for Europe‘s Future Euramet �

Measurements help reach new dimensions

The continuing development of science, industry and society in the 21st century will require new key technologies. Information processing will have to leave its established silicon path, materi-als technology will increasingly be based on new composites, and pharmaceutical research will de-velop products with completely new mechanisms. Nanotechnology will play a pivotal role here, enabling new routes to nanoelec-tronic manufacture and exploring the relationship between structure and efficacy of pharmaceutical products. Measurement standards will be essential in the nano world – a world of which the door has just been opened but in which the many usable paths still have to be explored metrologically.

In this field, metrology is gaining a new meaning: at the level of “macroscopic” production, it is already essential that every step of the production is accompanied by continuous and – as far as possible – precise measurements. This requirement has been indispensable since the early days of industrialisation when it was already clear that industrial production was no possible without a well-structured, complex network of measurements. Metrology is now more and more leaving the range of the visible – where control may still possible with the naked eye – to penetrate into the micro- and nano-ranges where one has to rely completely and utterly on measuring instruments. Their impor-tance is, of course, accordingly enhanced.

The important technological innovations of the past have depended on underpinning metrology re-search. Thus, for example, advances in satellite navigation (GPS and Galileo) depend crucially on improvements in time measurement following the development of the atomic clock in the 1950s. Similarly, the technologies of tomorrow and the day after tomorrow are already being anticipated by today’s fundamental metrological research.

A study from 2005 („Productive Metrology – Adding Value to Manufacture“, Annals of the CIRP) shows how vital metrology is for the economy. It demonstrates that investing only 1 euro into metro-logy increases the gross domestic product by 3 euros.

European Metrology for Europe‘s Future

The central nerve in the spine of our high-tech world is metrology, the science of mea-surement. Precise and reliable measurements are essential for many areas of our daily life, amongst others for the manufacture of innovative technical products, the delivery of modern healthcare and the protection of our environment. As almost every scientific advance and every technological trend depend on a well-founded metrolo-gical basis, it is no surprise that such a wide range of scientific themes appear on the metrological research agenda.

Measuring in the micro- and nano-ranges: a computer chip, the measuring tip of a scanning probe microscope and a step height standard with which the precision of this microscope can be checked.

European Metrology for Europe‘s Future Euramet �

Measurements help save lives

The population statistics speak for themselves: as western societies grow older the incidence of age-related diseases grows, while the „big killers“ (cancer and cardiovascular disease) are still not beaten. Medicine is using more and more high-tech diagnosis and therapy tools in its fight against these and other illnesses. Today, physicians are using instruments which are not only therapy devices but also excellent measuring instruments that can simultaneously localise a tumour very precisely and irradi-ate it – a development in medical quality management which is saving many lives. According to a stu-

dy of the German Society for the Epidemiological Cancer Register 224 250 new cases of cancer were declared in Germany in 2002. A study of the Ger-many Society for Radio-Oncology shows that ap-prox. 26% of the people suffering from cancer are healed by means of radio-therapy, partly combined with other forms of thera-pies. If one assumes – in a doubtless conservative estimation – that an im-

proved dosimetry increases the success of such a therapy even only by one percent, it still means that more than 2 000 additional patients could be healed each year.

In the future the physician will have access to a growing range of biomarkers for diagnosis and an ever-wider selection of imaging procedures which will not only deliver qualitative pictures but rely increasingly on quantitative measurements. Better metrology will improve the measurements behind the imaging procedures, generate reference standards for clinical analysis and provide mathematical procedures for realistic biological simulation.

Therapy device and measuring instrument at the same time: a mo-dern accelerator for radiotherapy.

Also in biotechnology it is becoming increasingly im-portant to see not only what is happening but also where, and to what extent – a typi-cal task for metrology. In this example, the challenge is to detect individual mo-lecules and to make quan-titative statements as to the antigen expression of indi-vidual cells.

European Metrology for Europe‘s Future Euramet �

Measurements help save energy and protect the environment

We have exactly one environment in which we live now and our children will live tomorrow. In order to treat it with responsibility and sensitivity we have to be able to monitor and analyse it in order to reduce environmental pollution and minimise all possible sources of danger. This requires appropri-ate sensors for supervision and control, eco-friendly technologies to protect our world and procedures to guarantee the future of our planet.

The following figures give an exam-ple of how important measurements are in environmental protection – and this also means protection of man against environment-induced stress: the radioactive rare gas radon, which occurs in nature, causes 20 000 fatali-ties due to lung cancer in the EU each year. The EU as well as the individual member states give recommendations

as to the limit values for radon activity concentrations in dwellings. Precise measurements are the basis of decisions to be made as to which measures are to be undertaken to reduce the concentration of radon in dwellings (for example what has to be observed in a newly built house) and can be suc-cessful (or fail) after an improvement measure.

High-tech metrology for a high-tech Europe

All the European states have national metrology institutes, each of which contributes to its country’s economic and social wellbeing. Their relative sizes and various activities reflect their national prio-rities and the corresponding resources available. To address Europe’s priorities on a European scale calls for a coordinated research programme in metrology. The European Metrology Research Pro-gramme (EMRP) will be managed by EURAMET (the European Association of National Metrology Institutes) to provide:

• measurement research supporting technological innovation; • metrology to improve the quality of life of Europe’s citizens; • an improved metrology infrastructure in Europe; • better regulations based on reliable measurement data.

The high tech Europe of the future will require many technological developments, but above all a rapidly developing high tech metrology capability.

“Measurement, testing and the definition of common standards, are essential elements in the esta-blishment of a knowledge-based economy that the European Union is striving to build. In this con-text, a powerful European metrology infrastructure is crucial to ensure the proper functioning of the European single market and to strengthen the competitive position of European enterprises in the global marketplace.”

EU Commissioner Philippe Busquin 2002

Measurements play an essential role when it comes to protecting man from environment-indu-ced stress – for ex-ample natural radio-activity

European Metrology for Europe‘s Future Euramet �

The EMRP will be supported by the European Commission:

“The Commission will provide its financial support to EURAMET in order to bridge the gap between the iMERA ERA-NET project and a joint European research and development programme in the field of Metrology (the science of measurement) to be implemented on the basis of Article 169 of the Treaty.”

Annex IV of the 2007 European Commision ‚Cooperation‘ Work Programme

Further information:

„Outline of the European Metrology Research Programme – the EMRP“

Contact:EURAMET Secretariatc/o Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB)Bundesallee 10038116 Braunschweig, GermanyTel: +49 (0) 531 592 2008Kerstin.Royss@ptb.de

Foundation of EURAMET e.V. in Berlin in Ja-nuary 2007 with more than 70 par-ticipants from 28 European coun-tries. EURAMET for the first time forms a legal en-tity for European metrology and is responsible for the execution of the EMRP.

“We have formed a common view of what is needed,identified what is best done together, and will bring our

collective resources to bear in an effective way“