Introduction

NIM Hepingli Campus

Tasks

The National Institute of Metrology, China (hereinafter referred to as NIM) was established in 1955 and is affiliated to the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR). It is the nation’s highest research facility of measurement science, a national statutory authority in the field of metrology, and a non-profit R&D institution. Since establishment, NIM aims to be a pioneer of the metrology community. It has played an important role in supporting national economic construction, social development as well as scientific and technological progress.

NIM is responsible for ensuring nationswide consistency and international equivalence of quantity values, maintaining the highest measurement capabilities in China, supporting the improvement of the quality of development of China, and facing the challenges of the new technological revolution. Since its establishment in 1955, NIM has made important contributions to promoting China’s scientific and technological innovation, economic and social development, and meeting national strategic requirements. Important areas such as food safety, Gorges project, aerospace, satellite navigation, West-East Gas Transmission and high-speed railway are all inseparable from the support of NIM. When the then vice-premier Wang Qishan visited NIM in 2011, he praised that NIM has become the backbone and the “treasure of the country”.

The main responsibilities of NIM are:

Conduct fundamental research in measurement science, as well as research on measurement technology frontiers, measurement theory, measurement techniques, and standard dissemination and methods for traceability;

Conduct research on measurement management systems and related regulations, scientific development planning and strategic research, and study of national measurement systems, standard dissemination and construction of traceability chain;

Study, establish, and maintain national primary standards and measurement standards; realize SI and develop and maintain certified reference materials (CRMs); research, establish and maintain national time & frequency systems and China Standard Time (UTC NIM).

Carry out international comparisons of primary standards, measurement standards and CRMs to achieve international equivalence; conduct the domestic comparison of quantity values; undertake the assessment of metrological institutes, assessment of measurement standards as well as capability verification; and  the evaluation of reliability of measurement methods and measurement results;

Implement the dissemination and  traceability of quantity values, traceablitiy of national key laboratories and related verification and testing institutions.

Research on the value dissemination and traceability system of high-tech and emerging areas and their applications; carry out analysis and verification of measurement data and methods;

Conduct technical support for measuring instrument type evaluation testing and products quality supervision ;

Carry out constituting and revision of national metrological specifications, international suggestions, standards in metrology. Conduct analysis and verification of measurement data and methods.

Carry out technical guidence for the legal metrology institutions, measurement knowledge transfer and science popularization, and high level metrology human resource building.

Carry out metrology technical achievements transfer, enterprises supporting.

Carry out international coorperation.

Complete other tasks assigned by the SAMR.

Campus

NIM has two campuses: Hepingli campus and Changping campus. Hepingli campus covers an area of ​​74,000 square meters and a construction area of ​​61,000 square meters. It is mainly used to maintain national primary standards and provide value dissemination services.

Changping campus was officially put in operation in August 2009, covering an area of ​​561,000 square meters. The existing building area is 47,700 square meters. It focuses on the frontier fundamental research of metrology and is a center for scientific and technological innovation, international cooperation and talent training. The campus has a number of high-precision measurement laboratories with excellent experimental conditions including vibration isolation, constant temperature and humidity, cleaness.

NIM Changping Campus

Staff

By 2018, NIM has more than 1,000 employees, over 700 are professional and technical workers, including 2 academicians of Chinese Academy of Engineering, 88 research fellows, 356 associate research fellows and senior engineers. Among them, more than 200 people have obtained doctoral degrees, and more than 230 have master’s degrees, accounting for over 65% of the total number of scientific and technical employees.

Technical Capabilities

NIM maintains 135 national primary standards, 419 national standards, 2,313 CRMs, and 1,864 internationally recognized calibration and measurement capabilities (CMCs) published by the BIPM KCDB. Thanks to the continuous improvement of technical capabilities, the technical service of NIM has been continuously enhanced. In 2018, NIM provided the social standards dissemination and traceability services with more than 200,000 sets/pieces of instruments.

Awards

Since 1980, a total of 82 scientific and technological achievements of NIM won the National Science and Technology Award and nearly 400 provincial and ministerial awards. Since the 11th Five-Year Plan, NIM has won 14 National Science and Technology Progress Awards, including 4 first prizes and 10 second prizes.

International Coorperation

NIM actively participates in international and regional metrology organization activities. As the National Metrology Institute of China, NIM signed the Mutual Recognition Agreement (CIPM MRA). NIM has signed bilateral and multilateral science and technology cooperation agreements with more than 10 NMIs from the United States, Russia, United Kingdoms, Germany, Korea, Japan and Australia etc. to carry out multi-disciplinary, in-depth and effective scientific and technological cooperation and personnel exchanges, and actively provides technical assistance and services to developing countries.

Vision

NIM has thoroughly implemented the scientific concept of development, adheres to the principle of independent innovation, major breakthroughs, supporting development and leading the future; and is committed to support the country’s economic and social development as the starting point and the foothold of the development of measurement technology; persist in strengthening the frontier research of fundamental metrology, serving the national strategic objectives and improving the three strategic tasks of measurement, calibration and service capabilities; persist in taking the construction of new areas of metrological science and technology as the main direction of national strategic emerging industries for the country to speed up the transformation of the mode of economic development and to develop biosafety, energy, health, new materials, nano-tech, the environment, quality of life and a new generation of information technology.NIM regards optimizing the professional structure, strengthening the basic construction, focusing on scientific and technological cooperation, cultivating backbone talents and creating a policy environment as the important focus of measuring scientific and technological innovation and sustainable development; NIM continues to make progress in order to establish world leading measurement and scientific research institutions, and achieve more accomplishments and train more talents.