On 13–15 October, the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) took place in Paris, where Estonia was represented by Triinu Sillamaa, Business Environment Sector Manager at Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, and Mari Aru, Head of the Research and Development Division at Metrosert. Held every four years, the conference decides on matters that impact our everyday life.
At this meeting, the majority of the Member States of the Metre Convention voted to eliminate the leap second and transition to a continuous Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). This means that over the coming centuries, our devices and IT systems will not have to adapt to the addition or subtraction of a second from UTC. Furthermore, work will continue on developing a new definition of the second, with the aim of approving it at the next conference in 2030.
At the conference, Metrosert’s work in the field of metrology for emerging technologies was recognized. Estonia was highlighted as an example of a country with a small national metrology institute that, despite its size, is able to actively contribute to discussions on digitalization and emerging technologies. This is a significant acknowledgment of our team and the work we have done in fields such as the metrology of optical quantities and quantum key distribution technology.
Photos: BIPM Communications