Nordic Metrology Research Area - nMERA

Project Description

This Nordic satellite project to the EU project MERA will present and debate Nordic (including Baltic) ideas and opinions about what needs to be done and which is the most effective and efficient system for the future. The aims of the project are to collect and analyse the present national needs for metrology development in Nordic and Baltic states, and to map future scenarios of increased co-operation amongst Nordic NMIs in line with European metrology strategy and as part of a future co-ordinated Metrology Research Area. The results and conclusions of this NORDTEST project will provide Nordic input to the EU project MERA and other future projects.

Funded by NORDTEST

Final Report 2005-03-31

Increased needs of society for traceable measurement in traditional and new sectors become increasingly resource intensive. This challenge can be met through a more co-ordinated use of metrological resources and research. This issue has been examined from a Nordic prespective in a satellite project, N-MERA, to corresponding Euorpean projects (such as MERA) planning a metrology European research area. N-MERA participants have included representatives of the National Metrology Systems (NMS) of Nordic and Baltic countries (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden) and important stakeholders (industry, universities, funding agencies, politicians) in Nordic metrology. The project has been partially financed by NORDTEST [1] and the main results are summarised in several reports [2].

This Nordic project N-MERA - Nordic Metrology Research Area has developed:

Strategies for the development of Nordic traceable measurement infrastructure to meet future needs of calibration, knowledge transfer, and innovation in the coming 10 years
Scenarios of greater co-operation in Nordic metrology at the research infrastructure level. For example, a striking result is the considerable interest in collaboration in metrology, not only amongst the NMIs but particularly with stakeholders
Presentations of views of Baltic national metrology systems, as New Member States - positions and issues in a Nordic perspective.

There is a clear willingness and enthusiasm to achieve a significant increase in the amount of R&D collaboration within the Nordic metrology community, as is evident from the results of this N-MERA project. As the main result of the N-MERA project, a proposal [3] has been made through the Nordic Innovation Centre to the Nordic Council of Ministers to answer the question in what ways metrology can be further developed to promote an innovative and knowledge-intensive Nordic business sector. A final N-MERA project event will be the scientific sponsorship of this year's International Metrology Congress - MéTROLOGIE 2005 - in Lyons (FR), 20-23 June 2005.

References
[1] Nordic Innovation Centre
[2] N-MERA 2003 "N-MERA Nordic metrology research area", presentation at MERA Workshop, Berlin, May 2003
NORDTEST Position Paper No. 010, "Planning a Nordic Metrology Research Area", Dec. 2003; N-MERA 2004 "Nordic Metrology: Now and in the Future", SP report 2004 :33
[3] N-MERA 2004 "Promoting an innovative and knowledge-intensive Nordic business sector through better Nordic Metrology", Proposal to the Nordic Council of Ministers through the Nordic Innovation Centre, September 2004.