Speech of his Excellency the President of the GSO on the Occasion of World Metrology Day 2022
Speech of HE Mr. Saud Al-Khusaibi, GSO President
On the occasion of the World Metrology Day
20 May 2022
“Metrology in the Digital Age”
The GCC Standardization Organization for the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GSO) joins similar bodies and institutions in the countries of the world in celebrating the International Metrology Day, which falls on May 20 of each year. This year, it is celebrated under the theme “Metrology in the Digital Age”.
I seize this occasion to extend my sincere appreciation and best wishes to all staff of the national standardization bodies in the member states in general, and those engaged in metrology in particular.
Metrology plays an important role in various aspects of daily life, which most of us may not realize. It may be invisible to us, but in fact it is part of every work we do, he added.
The theme for this year’s celebration was chosen due to the fact that the digital technology has brought about a revolution that we are witnessing today in our society. Digital technology has a significant impact on improving the performance and effectiveness of operations and providing new opportunities for development and creativity. It is one of our most interesting trends in the society today that embodies the rapid pace of change that we are witnessing every day.
A key requirement of digital transformation is the open and transparent exchange of information, hence information should be easy to find when needed and be accessed in a coordinated process of operation and retrieval.
Data that are searchable, accessible, interoperable, and retrievable are indeed considered as trustworthy data and supports open data practices.
In order to improve the efficiency with which information is used in the new digital world, it is essential that all sources of information not only be human-readable, but also be available in machine-readable formats. When this is the case, machines can also act on them with automated commands that serve as the basis for new applications of artificial intelligence (AI).
It is important to note that the opportunities offered by digital transformation will be realized more quickly if the quality infrastructure can be adapted to promote and use new digital technologies. As metrology and its applications are among the essential components of the national and international quality infrastructure, it has indeed started supporting the requirements of the new digital economy. the outputs of the SI Digital Framework will be new digital applications that are developed and disseminated in the metrology community in general, and in scientific and technological research disciplines that depend on the SI Units system, in particular.
GSO has undertaken several initiatives to keep pace with the rapid developments in the world of digital technology. It started converting all Gulf standards into XML in order to structure the data of Gulf standards so that they are searchable, accessible, retrievable, and reusable.
GSO, represented by the Gulf Metrology Association (GULFMET), formed the Gulf Digital Transformation Team, and shall sponsor the First International Conference on Measurement and Digital Transformation, which will be held in Berlin on 19-21 September 2022, and will host a number of experts to talk and transfer their experiences about digital transformation in the field of metrology, in addition to participating in the International Team for Digital Transformation emanated from the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM).
GSO has realized the importance of digital transformation in all its activities, whether in automating processes related to the activity of developing Gulf standards or processes related to the conformity activity in addition to the metrology activity. GSO works in cooperation and coordination with relevant international bodies and organizations such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) to transfer experiences and expertise in the field of digital transformation to member states.
The journey of GSO towards achieving the goal of digitization with its comprehensive content through the transfer of its activities and services, which in turn will provide for the digital foundations for all users of data related to standardization activities, will be an advanced and wonderful step alike, and we look forward to sharing it with stakeholders in the member states.
I am pleased to note on this occasion that the Gulf Metrology Association (GULFMET), after being recognized as a regional body for metrology (RMO), has gained great momentum in terms of the number of international intercomparisons registered, and the number of measurement and calibration capabilities (CMCs) registered in the database of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM KCDB), and the effectiveness of its metrological technical committees and the international support it receives from similar international and regional bodies and organizations.
On this occasion, I can only commend the great efforts made by the staff working in metrology to provide internationally recognized, reliable and high credibility measurements, and their efforts to keep abreast with the rapid developments in the field of digital technology. We call on all member states to take advantage of the services of the Gulf Metrology Association, and utilize them to advance the activities of metrology in their countries.
Finally, I trust that through our joint efforts by us and all those working in metrology activity; the goals and aspirations of their countries will be achieved, hence reaching advanced levels in the field of metrology, and to highlight the importance of this activity to realize its active role in all aspects of life.
