IZSM concept submitted to the BMWi

After many months of intense discussions, PTB has submitted a detailed concept to the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie (Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy) for the establishment of an Innovation Center for Systems Metrology (IZSM). With its proposal, PTB is responding to the urgent request from its Kuratorium (Advisory Board) to establish suitable structures for creating the metrological foundation for complex and innovative technologies based on measurement data sets of networked systems. Once established, the proposed center would significantly shorten the development cycles of future technologies. These future fields range from metrology’s “core competencies” (like supply networks for water, gas and “green” electricity) in an intricately networked city of the future to autonomous vehicles and the application of artificial intelligence or machine learning in medicine. There is huge potential for innovation in all of these fields, but at the present they are still lacking the sound foundation and development support offered by measurement and testing technology, which promotes quality assurance and thus trust in innovative technologies.