
The National Metrology and Testing Laboratory is France's reference facility in the field of scientific measurements. It has been tasked with accompanying the entire French nation in its evolution and progress in this field, while contributing to corporate competitiveness and community well-being.
Since 2005, the French national government has assigned responsibility for supervising and stimulating the field of French metrology to the LNE, as metrology in France has been organized into a network of laboratories.
To guide France's national metrology network (known under the acronym RMNF) efficiently, a Metrology Committee was created to assist LNE with its assigned mission. This Committee is composed of representatives from the main Public Sector bodies carrying out metrological activities, academic experts and representatives industry. Its role primarily entails establishing medium- and long-term strategic orientations in the field of metrology and then both validating and monitoring the successful execution of metrology research programs. Committee members are appointed by administrative decree.
The RNMF itself is composed of 10 laboratories: the French National Metrology Laboratory (LNE), plus nine other facilities, which are officially designated by name and recorded by European and international bodies, respectively the EURAMET Association and the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM).
The respective missions and responsibilities of each of these metrology laboratories have been described on the French Metrology Network's website.
Metrology at the national level is primarily intended to generate and implement the units adopted by the International System of Units (abbreviated SI), as well as to facilitate access for users from all backgrounds (research, industry or control bodies) to the metrological references they require, all within the scope of a notion of traceability that has been rigorously defined.
RNMF member laboratories must also fulfill the needs of society at large and industries in meeting the challenges now being posed in sectors like energy, health, the environment, the space program and new technologies. Their mission extends to developing references with increasingly detailed precision and covering extreme value ranges or complex environmental conditions (e.g. nanometrology).
The projects being pursued within the framework of RNMF seek to:
All RNMF member laboratories disseminate the experience they've acquired by proposing training modules to promote knowledge transfer to industry and across laboratories.
Over 250 researchers are actively involved in both advancing research in the field of metrology and showcasing French expertise at the international level.
research projects, including 74 JRP
(Joint Research Programs)
publications in peer-reviewed journals
ongoing theses
Consult the research projects being conducted under the aegis of the French Metrology Network on the network's website:
Our last research report presents the latest research work carried out by LNE and the laboratories of the French National Metrology Network (RNMF), whether in fundamental, environmental, digital or quantum technology research. The 2021 research report also looks at the launch of the European Partnership on Metrology.