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About Dr. Ulrich Harmes-Liedtke

Dr Ulrich Harmes-Liedtke is a global expert in the field of international economic development cooperation. With more than 25 years of consulting experience, he is active in all phases of a project and program development (preparation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation) and collaborates with various implementing organizations and development banks (German Development Cooperation - GIZ and PTB -, Inter-American Development Bank, European Union and United Nations). He has consulting experience in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. Dr.Harmes-Liedtke is an experienced trainer and process consultant. He works with groups and teams to reflect on their situation and to then formulate change projects to improve their reality. He enables dialogue, facilitates and designs workshops, processes, and sense-making processes. He is certified in facilitation, mediation, and communication techniques which allow him to deal with sensitive, diverse, and even conflict situations. He supports systemic economic development in various roles: • As an expert and trainer in international trade, national quality policies, industrial policy, clusters, and global value chains • As a process consultant in designing and leading diagnostic processes that result in change, adaptation, and improvement • As a facilitator of dialogue, workshops, training, and sense-making processes • As a transdisciplinary researcher in the field of systemic economic development Born 1965, Ph.D. in political science and economics (Bremen 1999), MA in economics (Diplom-Volkswirt) (Hamburg 1991). German nationality.

Free Access to Harmonised Standards — and the Price the Standardisation System May Pay

If a company wishes to sell a CE-marked product in the Single market, it must demonstrate compliance with the applicable European Union (EU) harmonisation legislation — and for most product categories, that means working with harmonised technical standards. As the legislator does not wish to specify all the technical details itself, it also refers to harmonised technical standards, which companies previously had to purchase.

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The Underutilisation Problem: When Good Laboratories Fall Short of Their Potential

Well-equipped, well-trained but underused

When visiting public quality infrastructure facilities around the world, a striking paradox emerges time and again: laboratories equipped with sophisticated instruments, staff trained through international development cooperation programmes, and test benches that sit largely quiet.

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When Data Creates Trust: The Quality Infrastructure Behind Codes and Digital Product Passports

The Challenge and Promise of QI Interoperability

Digital transformation is affecting all aspects of quality infrastructure (QI), introducing data-driven approaches that increase the visibility and reach of standardization, metrology, accreditation, and conformity assessment processes.

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Building Safe and Fair Workplaces: The Critical Role of Quality Infrastructure

Introduction

Quality infrastructure (QI) institutions, which initially focused primarily on technical and industrial sectors, now impact nearly every aspect of our lives. They influence how goods and services are produced and significantly affect the world of work, where safety, fairness, and dignity are essential. On a global scale, the International Labour Organization (ILO) sets the gold standard for workplace rights, creating norms that ensure decent working conditions for all.

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Metrology and the Panama Canal: A Historical Overview

When the Panama Canal was inaugurated in 1914, it stood as a monument to engineering prowess and the quiet, often invisible discipline of measurement. The accurate control of water levels, the precise alignment of massive lock gates, and the seamless operation of the canal’s machinery were feats that depended on precise, reliable, and consistent measurements—what we now recognize as core elements of metrology. Yet, at that time, Panama had no national metrology infrastructure of its own.

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