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Description of the Objectives and Activities of the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP) I. OBJECTIVES In today’s global economy, metrology makes a significant contribution to the technological and economic development of many nations in the world. Metrology research is needed to solve societal problems, and examples of such research affect areas such as space including satellite navigation, security, healthcare, the semiconductor industry and climate change. Metrology research has strong public benefits and is the main supporting activity for government regulation and standardisation. Metrology is hidden from public view yet it is essential for the facilitation of modern trade and communications. Access to markets can be hampered by the lack of uniform and accurate weights and measures. All major economic powers in the world have recognised that technology R & D in metrology is critical to an advanced nation’s long term economic growth.

Metrology research has traditionally been a high national priority in many countries. However European countries are operating their national metrology research programmes in full isolation and EU Member States have been unable to create on their own a single and truly integrated EMRP. National Metrology Institutes (NMI), supported by Designated Institutes (DI) are in charge of implementing the national metrology research programmes on the basis of institutional funding from central government agencies or ministries. The European metrology research community is a specialised community only loosely linked to research organisations or academia. It is largely fragmented and comprises a few centres of global excellence which would benefit from wide competition on an international scale. Duplication of research clearly exists.

The right for the Community to act in this field is set out in several Articles of the Treaty providing for research coordination and cooperation between Member States and the Community. Article 165 stipulates that ‘the Community and the Member States shall coordinate their research and technological development activities so as to ensure that national policies and Community policy are mutually consistent’. Article 169 invites the Community to make provision for participation in R & D programmes undertaken by several Member States. Community action seems highly justified, as Member States acting alone are unlikely to be able to address these problems.

The EMRP will integrate the national programmes of 22 participating States into a single joint research programme and support, in particular, the objectives of the European National Measurement Systems. The objectives of the EMRP are to accelerate the development, validation and exploitation of new measuring techniques, standards, processes, instruments, reference materials and knowledge aimed at driving innovative developments in industry and commerce, improving the quality of data for science, industry and policymaking and supporting the development and implementation of directives and regulations. The EMRP will achieve these objectives in the following ways:

(a) pooling excellence in metrology research — by creating competitive joint research projects, namely EMRP projects, marshalling the capability of a sufficient critical mass from the networks of NMI and DI from the participating States to tackle major metrology challenges faced at European level;

(b) opening of the system to the best science — by increasing participation from the wider European research community through researcher grants;

(c) capacity building — by increasing the capability of the European metrology researcher community through researcher mobility grants targeting those EURAMET Member Countries with limited metrology research capability. The EMRP shall complement ongoing national programmes and activities aimed at addressing purely national priorities. The EMRP initiative is aimed at aligning and integrating relevant national metrology research activities to establish a joint research programme featuring scientific, management and financial integration, making a major contribution to the European Research Area and underpinning the concepts in the Lisbon agenda of Europe as ‘the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-driven economy’. Scientific integration is achieved through the common definition and implementation of activities under the EMRP. Management integration is achieved through the use of EURAMET e.V., a non-profit association under German law, as the dedicated implementation structure subject to the detailed arrangements contained in Annex II.

Financial integration implies that the participating States effectively commit to contribute to the financing of the EMRP by providing national funding to all eligible participants in selected EMRP projects from the national earmarked EMRP budgets, if necessary by drawing on the reserve funding capability amounting to 50 % of such budgets, and by providing a ‘cash’ contribution to a common pot to fund researcher excellence and mobility grants, whilst fully funding the running costs of the EMRP. A further element of financial integration shall be the unified approach towards eligible costs, based on the rules of the Seventh Framework Programme. II. ACTIVITIES The EMRP shall consist of joint research and technological development activities of four types: A. The core activity shall consist of multi-partner trans-national EMRP projects addressing research, technological development, training and dissemination activities. In view of the concentrated capacities in metrology, the core part of the EMRP projects shall be executed by NMI and DI from participating States. B. In order to increase and diversify capacities in metrology, three grant schemes shall be set up:

B1. In order to enlarge the number of organisations with capacities closely related to metrology, researcher excellence grants shall be made available to organisations and/or individuals from the wider researcher community in the Member States and countries associated to the Seventh Framework Programme which are capable of making a substantial contribution to the research activities of the joint programme. Each selected organisation and/or individual shall be associated to an EMRP project. B2. In order to develop the capacities of individuals in metrology through mobility, researcher mobility grants shall be made available to: 1. researchers from NMI and DI of participating States, 2. researchers benefiting, either individually or through their organisation, from a researcher excellence grant, and 3. researchers from EURAMET Member Countries not participating in the EMRP, which currently have limited or no metrology research capability. These researcher mobility grants shall enable the researchers to stay either in an NMI or DI participating in an EMRP project or in an organisation benefiting from a researcher excellence grant.

B3. In order to ensure sustainability in the cooperation between the NMI and DI of the participating States and to prepare the next generation of experienced metrology researchers, early-stage researcher mobility grants shall be made available to early-stage researchers from the NMI and DI of participating States to enable them to stay either in an NMI or DI, in an organisation benefiting from a research excellence grant or in another organisation participating in an EMRP research project at its own costs. These activities shall be enhanced, where appropriate by collaboration with other relevant and interested organisations, within or beyond Europe, participating on a self funding basis. In addition, wider networking activities shall be supported to a limited extent in order to promote the EMRP and enhance its impact. These activities shall include, if necessary, maintenance and updating of the identified EMRP research areas through activities such as workshops, and contacts with other appropriate stakeholders in Europe and beyond. III. IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTIVITIES

The selection of EMRP projects and the award of researcher excellence and researcher mobility grants shall be subject to periodic calls for proposals. As an indicative calendar, it is foreseen that calls for proposals will be launched at 12 to 18-month intervals over a maximum period of seven years. The award of early-stage researcher mobility grants shall be subject to a permanent call. A. EMRP projects

(a) Call for potential research topics of EMRP projects (Stage 1): Each call for proposals of EMRP projects shall be preceded by the identification of the topics of that call following the steps set out below. Firstly, the EMRP Committee (see Annex II), in consultation with the Commission, shall identify the parts of the research activities included in the EMRP which shall be the subject of the call for proposals. Secondly, the researcher community — any interested individual or organisation — shall be invited, through a public call, to suggest potential research topics. Thirdly, the EMRP Committee shall agree on the best potential research topics received. The EMRP Committee may amend, split or merge received topics and introduce new topics in order to optimise the call for proposals in Stage 2. The EMRP Committee shall ensure that the final research topics cannot be traced back to the authors of the initial proposal and are thus anonymous;