Abstract
The objective of this paper is to provide an economic perspective to those involved in public financing of the national metrology infrastructure. Whereas justifications for subsidising the national metrological activities are often historically biased, we raise the importance of economic considerations, which could be used during prioritisation. The expenditure in measurement and metrology infrastructure of European countries are compared to economic indicators for quality of life. Various proxies are used, such as measuring instruments sale (for measurement infrastructure) and data from the BIPM’s KCDB (as a proxy for national standards). As the EU Internal Market also holds for the provision of metrological services, the paper exposes possible trends regarding public financing to the sector.
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Notes
For clarity, calibration refers to the operation that, under specified conditions, in a first step, establishes a relation between the quantity values with measurement uncertainties provided by measurement standards and corresponding indications with associated measurement uncertainties and, in a second step, uses this information to establish a relation for obtaining a measurement result from an indication [2].
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Poposki, N., Majcen, N. & Taylor, P. Assessing publically financed metrology expenditure against economic parameters. Accred Qual Assur 14, 359–368 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00769-009-0538-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00769-009-0538-3