News

Dr Annette Röttger from PTB (Germany) has been elected as EURAMET Vice-Chairperson (GA) at the organisation’s General Assembly held in Berlin in June 2025.

Annette brings extensive experience and commitment to European metrology. She currently serves as Germany’s Delegate to EURAMET and joined the EURAMET Board of Directors in 2024. In addition, she represents Germany in the programme committees of EMPIR and the European Partnership on Metrology, contributing as a member of the Subcommittee Research.

Since 2022, Annette has chaired EURAMET’s European Metrology Network for Radiation Protection, successfully guiding its establishment and the development of its Strategic Research Agenda.

Annette is a senior physicist and recognised expert in ionizing radiation and metrology. At PTB, the German National Metrology Institute, she is Member of the Presidential Board since 2022. Her career spans leadership of PTB’s Division for Ionizing Radiation and several departments and working groups in radioactivity, radiation protection and dosimetry. She also served as an expert for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and chairs the Committee on Radiological Protection Technology within Germany’s Commission on Radiological Protection.

Annette joined PTB in 1992 after graduating from the Technical University of Braunschweig. She earned her Ph.D. in physics with honours in 1995 and has undertaken research at leading institutions, including CERN in Switzerland.

Passionate about science outreach, Annette co-founded PTB’s ‘KnowledgeSearchers’ initiative, promoting science for children.

To learn more about Annette’s vision and priorities for her three-year term as Vice-Chairperson, EURAMET asked her a few questions:

Annette, congratulations on your election! What is your vision for EURAMET during your term, and which priorities will you focus on as Vice-Chairperson?

Thank you. It is a privilege to serve the EURAMET community.

To strengthen Europe's competitiveness, our economy needs world-class services and cutting-edge technological expertise. At the same time, our society depends on trustworthy data to make informed decisions and build consensus in an era of disruptive change. This brings me to my vision for EURAMET’s role: to create a more coordinated, impact‑driven European metrology infrastructure that accelerates innovation and strengthens Europe’s technological sovereignty.

How do we achieve this?

First, by deepening collaboration and Capacity Building across Europe, ensuring National Metrology Institutes can work together and support each other. Shared responsibility leads to shared and trusted capability, turning precision into progress for citizens, industry, and policy.

This requires future-proof metrology research in fast‑evolving fields, e.g. for quantum technologies, advanced materials, healthcare, and clean energy. Reliable measurements are essential for these new technologies supporting Europe’s competitiveness, technological sovereignty and ultimately, the well-being of all citizens.

Second, by joining forces with stakeholders and policy makers: We need early engagement, clear pathways into standards, regulation, and industrial uptake, while aligning metrology research with the priorities of the EU and the Member States priorities.

You are a strong advocate for joint European metrology research. In your view, why is metrology so important for Europe, and what are the biggest challenges in this context?

Metrology is a cornerstone of trust in our democratic society, whether it is ensuring fair trade, informed decision making or providing a safe pathway for new technologies. It underpins progress in areas like advanced manufacturing, energy transformation, quantum technology 2.0, new health- or biotechnologies and a digital infrastructure for certification.

Metrology research is also crucial to safeguard strategic autonomy. It helps reducing dependencies, ensuring cross‑border compatibility and translates results efficiently into standards, regulation, and industrial deployment. This shortens innovation cycles, so citizens see tangible benefits sooner.

Metrologists like me believe in facts: recent assessments show every €1 million of EU funding in metrology research generated over €4 million in turnover from new or improved products and services. Joint European research proved its leverage for competitiveness.

Our biggest challenges? Staying ahead of the wave of transformation.

We need robust measurement frameworks for disruptive technologies.

And we must strengthen Europe’s innovation power through joint metrology research. There is enormous momentum behind collaborative research enabled by third party funding. It allows metrology institutes to tackle tomorrow's problems today, while their research creates new markets.

What aspects of your role as Vice-Chairperson are you most excited about?

I am an enthusiastic physicist, dedicated metrologist and a convinced European. What could be more exciting than to use my expertise to strengthen Europe in challenging times? We can do this through metrology professionally, but also through our unity: in EURAMET, we speak with one voice, from north to south, west to east. In all humility, I hope we can server as a model for cooperation in Europe, because we have proven that it works.

It is a great and rewarding task to help shape European metrology. I am deeply honoured by the trust our members have placed in me and humbled by the challenge. It is important to anticipate stakeholder needs early and deliver world-class services for start-ups, SMEs and industry on time and across a broad spectrum – we talked about the different technologies. Because wherever measurements matter, metrology is there, driving innovation.

And I admit: working together in EURAMET with so many wonderful colleagues is simply a joy!

What message would you like to share with the EURAMET community?

Thank you to our members, partners, and stakeholders for their commitment to this community and to collaborative metrology research. In times of geopolitical and technological challenges, no country can succeed alone, our strength lies in European unity and joint measurement capability.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to my predecessor, Miruna Dobre, for her outstanding contributions to our community. Her leadership was not only inclusive and deeply committed but also visionary, positioning EURAMET for a successful and future-ready path.

Let’s continue building together, from research to standards to industrial adoption – it’s all Powered by Metrology. We turn precision into progress for our economy, society, and the future of Europe.

EURAMET extends its sincere thanks to Miruna Dobre for her dedicated service as Vice-Chairperson from 2022 to 2025 and wishes Annette every success in her new role.