21st NMI Directors and Member State Representatives Meeting

The 21st NMI Directors and Member State Representatives meeting was held online from 11:00 to 13:00 (UTC) on 20 and 21 October 2021. The meeting was successfully hosted by KRISS, NIM and NMIJ on behalf of APMP. It was composed of the following three sessions:

o    Reporting from the CIPM, BIPM and State Representatives

o    Working Group (SR-WG)

o    SI redefinition, Now and Future

o    COVID-19

At the beginning of the session “Reporting from the CIPM, BIPM and SR-WG”, Dr. Takashi Usuda, CIPM Secretary, gave an introduction to the meeting. Then reports from the CIPM by Dr. Wynand Louw, CIPM President, and from the BIPM by Dr. Martin Milton, BIPM Director, were given. Dr. Robert Gunn and Dr. Daniela Arruda Benjamin, SR-WG Chairs, reported the feedback from SR-WG.

At the session of “SI redefinition, Now and Future”, three invited speakers made presentations. A lecture on progress in the realization of the new definition of the kilogram was given by Dr. Michael Stock of BIPM. Dr. Barbara Goldstein of NIST talked about quantum-based standards and trends including the NIST on Chip program. Dr. Noël Dimarcq, CCTF President, made presentation on study towards a new definition of the second.

The topic of the third session was COVID-19. The result of the survey on the pandemic impact on NMI activities was reported. The survey was conducted online or via email in the period between 5 August and 10 September 2021 in advance of the meeting, targeting NMIs and related institutes of the Member States to the Metre Convention and Associate States and Economies of the CGPM. The questionnaire survey results which summarized answers from 47 institutes including 11 APMP institutes showed that most of the institutes were affected by the pandemic. It was found that NMIs had taken measures not to stop the supply of standards and traceability even under the pandemic, which they consider as the most important and essential role. Then activities and experiences during the pandemic, for example, online peer review, accreditation, and utilization of metrology for economic recovery, were introduced.

Dr. Park (KRISS), Dr. Yang (NIM) and Dr. Akoshima(NMIJ) hosted the meeting

Contributor:

Dr. Megumi AKOSHIMA, NMIJ/AIST, Japan 

E-mail: m-akoshima@aist.go.jp