Category Archives: Quality Infrastructure

The totality of internationally recognized standards and technical regulations, metrology, accreditation, conformity assessment services and information, awareness and education programmes involved in strengthening the quality competitiveness of the goods and services produced or provided at the national levels, with the aim of: increasing and facilitating trade, boosting industrial and State efficiency and effectiveness, promoting consumer welfare and safety and contributing to other sustainable development goals.

Recalibrating Quality: The Role of Risk-Based Thinking

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Risk-based thinking has emerged as a cornerstone of modern quality management and is simultaneously used in conformity assessment and market surveillance.

This article aims to deepen our understanding of the connection between risk, quality, and safety. It explainsits significance for quality management, conformity assessment, market surveillance, and the overarching quality infrastructure. In doing so, we address how risk thinking has developed and will continue to develop in the world of quality.

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Advancing the Global Quality Infrastructure: Key Insights and Trends from GQII 2023

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The “GQII-Report 2023: Insights and Trends on Economies Using Metrology, Standards, Accreditation and Conformity Assessment Services” was published earlier this year using 2023 data. The GQII database and ranking integrate information on quality infrastructure (QI) in 185 economies. Each edition collects and analyses data on standardization, metrology, accreditation and conformity assessment activities. Data from multiple sources is used to ensure comparability and a formula is used to calculate each economy’s score and position in the global QI ranking.

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Photovoltaic: Quality, Safety, and Sustainability Challenges

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In a June 2024 Solar Energy Special, the Economist called solar energy generation the “least obtrusive revolution imaginable.”(The Economist 2024b) According to the International Solar Energy Society, solar power is on track to generate more electricity than all the world’s nuclear power plants in 2026, its wind turbines in 2027, its dams in 2028, its gas-fired power plants in 2030, and its coal-fired ones in 2032.

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Gender Perspective in Quality Infrastructure: A Pathway to Equality and Innovation (PART 2)

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In a previous post, we discussed the importance and implications of incorporating a gender perspective into QI. We recommended using a framework tailored to the QI context to evaluate contribution levels and progress toward gender equality. This time, we will explore various entry points through which QI can integrate a gender perspective, including:

  1. Fostering women’s talent and empowerment within QI organisations

In 2023, the Global Gender Gap Report published that women represent 49.3% of total employment in occupations outside science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), but only 29.2% of all STEM workers. This shows that women continue to be under-represented in this field of work, which is usually highly paid and has excellent growth potential.

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Gender Perspective in Quality Infrastructure – A Pathway to Equality and Innovation (PART 1)

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An analysis of crash and injury data collected by the National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System between 1998 and 2015 in the United States, conducted by the University of Virginia, revealed a disturbing disparity: belted women are 73% more likely to be seriously injured in frontal crashes than men.

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