2019 is a special year for metrology. The resolution on the revision to the SI adopted at the 26th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) has taken effect on May 20, 2019. More than 100 member states and affiliates of the Metric Convention adopted the resolution on the revision to SI. These members represent about 98% of the world's economies and constitute the basis for science, economy and global trade. The revision to SI has laid a foundation for the development of emerging technologies and technological innovation. Many research institutes have worked for decades for this historic moment, and countless researchers have worked together regardless of political and cultural differences to introduce a more stable and universal new definition of SI.
For Germany and China, 2019 is also a year of significance. Based on mutual respect and friendly trust, two countries reached the China-Germany Metrology Technology Cooperation Agreement in 1979. This Agreement was jointly signed by BMWi of Germany and the General Administration of Metrology of China. As for Germany, Professor Kind, President of PTB, signed on behalf of BMWi. Since then, this Cooperation Agreement has been regularly renewed, and now the two countries have ushered in the 40th year of cooperation. The Collected Works will take you back to the past of growth of the two countries and look forward to a more fruitful future. The Collected Works not only focuses on the past success, but also looks forward to the future attractive prospects of measurement cooperation.
At the beginning of cooperation, China and Germany took further developing and maintaining the national measurement standards in China as the goal of cooperation. After years of efforts, major changes have taken place in the way of cooperation between the two countries: In the early period of cooperation, it was mainly the transfer of knowledge and experience. Later, NIM has become an increasingly powerful partner. Therefore, the two countries carried out much scientific and technical cooperation in the later period. Such cooperation has had a positive impact on the two countries. Both of them have benefited a great deal from industrial development and innovation based on high-precision measurement. Today, the two countries have cooperated and studied in many fields under the conditions of equal scientific research level. This is a major and heartening trend of development.
We are facing with increasingly more complex measurement challenges. To cope with these challenges, global network and cooperation have become increasingly important and attractive. It's particularly important for PTB to have such a strong international partner like NIM. Therefore, I look forward to deepening our friendship and cooperation, and hope you like reading the Collected Works.
Joachim Ullrich
President of PTB
31, 2019