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In many countries, Designated Institutes (DI) play an essential role in developing and maintaining the national metrology infrastructure. To further strengthen collaboration with DIs, EURAMET ran a two-day workshop on 'Challenges for full integration of DIs within EURAMET'. "Our objectives are to fully integrate DIs into the EURAMET community and its activities, as well as stimulating their role to actively contribute to metrology developments at a national level", explained Janko Drnovšek, EURAMET Vice-Chairperson (GA) and facilitator of the workshop.

The event was hosted on 18 and 19 February 2016 by the Danish National Metrology Institute DFM in Kongens Lyngby (Denmark). The event was aimed in the first instance at DIs, but also addressed National Metrology Institute (NMI) representatives, national designating and financing authorities and EURAMET Technical Committee chairs. This was reflected in the composition of the 55 participants from all over Europe. "The goal of the workshop is to achieve a good understanding of the specific needs and expectations of the different communities and to establish effective communication between them for the future", comments Maguelonne Chambon, member of EURAMET's Board of Directors and the organising committee of the workshop.

After the opening words by Michael Kjær, Director of the host DFM, the workshop began with an introduction to the EURAMET organisation and opportunities for participation in EURAMET committees and R&D programmes. In the following session, information on the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement, Calibration and Measurement Capabilities processes, Quality Management System and accreditation was provided. The second day started with a number of success stories from EURAMET NMIs and DIs giving an insight into the different national metrology landscapes. The workshop concluded with a round table discussion raising different proposals and issues for the improvement of the collaboration between DIs and EURAMET. The participants appreciated the first EURAMET workshop for DIs and asked EURAMET to organise further topic-centred DI workshops and events.

"On behalf of EURAMET I would like to give our warmest thanks to DFM for hosting the workshop", said Beat Jeckelmann, EURAMET Chairperson. "The landscape of NMIs and DIs varies a lot and there are different models from country to country. We hope that the first EURAMET DI meeting was fruitful for all involved parties and provided a platform for the exchange of experiences." Based on the collected feedback EURAMET will develop an action plan including the next steps needed to further extend the collaboration with DIs. The material presented at the workshop is available on the EURAMET website at http://www.euramet.org/event-diworkshop2016