Firstly, the SBM would like to offer sincere thanks for the patient and attentive manner with which IMEKO has treated us as a member-organization, especially during the last eight months. It was a period of intense discussions which, as can be seen today, had the indispensable, untiring and continued support of Prof. Maurício Frota. Because of this support, it was possible for us to be here, continuing the hard work, after the SBM's victory in having IMEKO 2006 staged in Brazil. We can assure you that, both the new SBM Board of Directors and the previous one, recognize the honor received from IMEKO and we proudly assume this distinction, which shall be respected as if the future competitiveness of our country depended on it.

We would also like to take this opportunity to also thank Prof. Dr. António Cruz Serra for his valuable contribution during the mission to gaining the opportunity for Brazil to host an event of the size of the IMEKO World Congress.

To be here in the country that wrote our name on the map of the world, is also a matter of great pride for us Brazilians. In the name of the SBM, we thank the Lisbon Technical University for welcoming us, and this event will also certainly promote the exchange of experiences between Brazil and Portugal in the area of metrology and others.

As the head of the SBM Executive Secretariat for only five months, I have been attempting to overcome, with much dedication and hard work, my inexperience in the area of metrology. Therefore, I hope to count on each one of you to contribute, in every way, to the success of IMEKO 2006, which is a victory without precedent for Brazilian metrology and, I am sure, also for Latin America.

However, before starting to address the 12th (twelfth) item of our agenda, I would like to request, yet again, the contribution of Dr. Antônio Serra in helping me with my "survival English", so that during the discussions that we shall certainly have after my presentation, the participants in this meeting have an accurate understanding of our proposals, deliberations and arguments.

Confirmed and formalized institutional support - the SBM has received, in the last few days, the confirmation of institutional support from INMETRO, ABNT, Post graduation-MQI/PUC-RJ and Post graduation-MCI/UFSC, Rio Convention Bureau in addition to those specified in June 2002 and November 2003 in Croatia. These bodies and institutions ratified their previously formalized intention of support, assuring suitable conditions for the full staging of IMEKO 2006 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Such commitments (ANNEX I), are given in various forms, such as: human and financial resources, strategic discussions and operational management, therefore guaranteeing the full gamut of actions and activities which will make up IMEKO 2006.

The re-editing of the folder - the option to re-edit part of the folder (ANNEX II), presented in 2003 by the SBM, had as its principal reason the wish to not violate the conceptual pacts between the SBM and IMEKO, without previously knowing in detail all of the information available today about IMEKO 2006. The absence of a message from Dr. Júlio Felix, the new President of the SBM, in this folder, is due to our wish to consult with IMEKO first, in order to prepare a text perfectly aligned with the institutional guidelines. On the other hand, the staging of METROSUL IV between the ninth and twelfth of November at Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil, presented an excellent opportunity to publicize IMEKO 2006, pointing out the alteration of dates on which it will be held, to a public that is potentially a part of its future activities.

The use of SBM publicity vehicles - on a national level, the SBM has two vehicles to announce its activities:  SBMídia (a circulation of 10,000 copies, bi-monthly) and SBMail monthly (ANNEX III). Both publications are important vehicles for announcing the actions and activities which will make up IMEKO 2006. It is important, from now on, that we can count on the collaboration of the IMEKO Member Organizations and of the Measurement Journal's Editorial Board, in order to publicize the event, through the various local, regional and world media.

Publicity plan at future international events - the SBM has started to prepare an IMEKO 2006 publicity plan, for various international events that will be held up to the first half of 2006, counting on the travel aid companies already contracted to support the event. These events were taken from the IMEKO and NCSL sites and are shown in the table presented. Therefore, we hope to count on great collaboration from IMEKO, through its member-organizations, members of the Advisory Board, Technical Board and General Council, to help to extensively widen this publicity.

• METROSUL IV: 90 works registered (86 from Brazil) and 353 participants
• NAMLS 2005: 170 works registered (20 from Brazil) and 136 participants – NAMLS folder part 1 and part 2

 

show not only the scale of the commitments assumed by the SBM, together with IMEKO, to raise the national participation in the preparation of work of a high level, but also confirm the confidence of the international community in the ability of the SBM to stage events of high quality.

The www.metrologia2006.org.br  site – the IMEKO 2006 site, still without new information content, was made available on November 12, 2004 (ANNEX V). We have every intention of updating it, and we request the Members of IMEKO Fóruns to prepare a letter to be made available to the public, as well as asking the IMEKO Secretariat to establish a banner link from their institutional site to the address of the site of the event. We also ask Dr. Leo Van Biesen and Dr. Tamas Kemény to reformulate or reorientate the content of the text that will make up the folder.

Contracting companies - organization, travel tickets and reception - negotiations with various companies were finalized, these companies had already been indicated to IMEKO as candidates to be included in the "operators" portfolio for the event. CONGREX (www.congrex.com.br) will be the IMEKO 2006 Organizer, which will have VARIG (www.varig.com.br) as the official airline of the event, alongside BLUMAR (www.blumar.com.br), which will act in the tourism area, receiving the Congress participants. The contracts signed with all of these companies are to be found in ANNEX VI. As a proposal for the opening show of IMEKO 2006, we are attaching, for evaluation, a CD  of a musical group, known as Toque de Arte, with a compilation of Brazilian music. We intend to serve cocktails during the group's show.

Proposal for the interaction of the themes of TC/IMEKO 2006 – accepting as valid the program already defined for IMEKO 2006, structured by the SBM in 2003, in conjunction with IMEKO's Technical Committees, We wish to request that the opportunity to motivate the interaction of these themes is considered.

This guidance would be given by stimulating authors to develop works that would highlight[1]:

 

• New metrology networks, new partners
• Metrology in developing countries
• Metrology in physics and engineering
• New applications for metrology
• Metrology, a high return on investment and high value for public money
• The world’s measurement system; cooperation and partnerships

 

Additionally, the SBM, if requested by IMEKO, can alter the program, including and incorporating new themes, especially those related to new IMEKO's Technical Committee 21 - “Mathematical Tools in Measurements”.

Suggested Brazilian participants for TC/IMEKO 2006 – by consulting the detailed reports prepared by Prof. Maurício Frota, during the past four years, related to the staging of IMEKO 2006, including the technical missions to Vienna and Croatia, we have some suggestions for Brazilian researchers for inclusion in the Technical Committees for IMEKO 2006. Therefore, the new SBM Board wishes to know if IMEKO would consider the possibility of us submitting, for its evaluation, additional names to be included in all of TC/IMEKO.

New date for the event - taking into account the considerations sent on 10.18.2004 by IMEKO - Dr. Léo Biesen - related to the staging of a "competing" event to IMEKO 2006 (IMTC-2006 Conference, organized by the IEEE in Sorrento, Italy in April 2006), the SBM, in consultation with Prof. Maurício Frota and the Presidency of IMEKO, agreed that the proposal to delay IMEKO 2006 to September was correct. Recently this understanding developed, with the contribution of Dr. António Cruz and after the agreement of Dr. Léo Biesen, the SBM submits to this Forum a new date proposal: September 17 to 22, 2006.

A proposed schedule - taking into account the actions and activities set out to hold an international event of the size and importance of IMEKO 2006, the SBM, in discussions with CONGREX, prepared and now submits to this Forum, a preliminary schedule (ANNEX VII part 1, part 2 and part 3) proposing the control of the operations and implementation of the event, from now until 2006. It is worth clarifying that the items highlighted in this preliminary schedule are generic, as the SBM, in conjunction with IMEKO, will make the alterations considered necessary, bearing in mind the inherent details of congresses held by IMEKO.

The endorsement of the new board of the SBM of the commitments assumed by the previous management (2002 / 2003) with IMEKO - the reports of the technical missions undertaken by the SBM, in order to stage IMEKO 2006 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, contain a series of commitments which shall be complied with and honored by the new board installed in March 2004. However, if IMEKO has any other commitments in its printed records or in the minutes of its various Forums (EB, AB, TC, GC) or of its members, the new Board of the SBM will seek to honor them, once it is decided that they are in alignment with the requirements of its Statutes and Rules.

Finally, the SBM places itself at the disposal of IMEKO, to discuss the direction that has been taken for the implementation of the actions and activities related to the staging of IMEKO 2006.

At the end, the SBM invites you to a journey that begins and ends with distances that are easy to be understood, simply by means of scientific notation.

It begins with 10 million light years (1023m) and ends with 10-16 m far.

As we are talking about metrology and discussing an event which theme is Metrology for a sustainable development, nothing better than thinking of our Planet – the Earth;

Have a nice trip.

Thank you very much.

Lisbon, November 14, 2004
IMEKO Technical Board Meeting

Lisbon, November 15 and 16, 2004
47th Session of GC IMEKO