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Mesopartner Blog
At Mesopartner, we are passionate about exploring complexity and driving meaningful change in territorial development, innovation, and economic systems. This blog is a space where we share our insights, experiences, and reflections drawn from our work across the globe. Whether you're a development practitioner, policy-maker, researcher, or simply curious about how systems thinking can inform more sustainable and inclusive development, we invite you to join the conversation. Here, we unpack ideas, showcase tools and methodologies, and offer thought-provoking perspectives on the challenges and opportunities of working in complex environments.
Should conformity assessment bodies be better run as public or private entities?
There are different organisational forms of conformity assessment bodies (CABs). [1] Public institutions claim to provide common goods, whereas private organisations are commercially oriented. In addition, there are mixed forms, such as certification bodies of business associations or providing conformity assessment services under a common umbrella with a national standards institute.
Dr. Ulrich Harmes-Liedtke
Nov 7, 2022
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Internationalisation of laboratory services
We know laboratories as service providers to other sectors in the same economy. Testing laboratories check compliance, e.g., whether foodstuffs meet the requirements of hygiene standards or do not contain excessive loads of heavy metals. Clinical laboratories test people and animals for certain diseases. Calibration laboratories ensure that business partners can rely on each other’s measurement results.
Dr. Ulrich Harmes-Liedtke
Oct 31, 2022
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How can MSMEs become interested in quality matters?
In principle, quality infrastructure (QI) services serve all companies, regardless of size. Multinationals and large national companies usually have certified quality management systems and regularly use QI services.
Many micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), however, face challenges concerning quality management and quality infrastructure usage:
Dr. Ulrich Harmes-Liedtke
Sep 11, 2022
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Quality: compliance or competitive strategy?
Higher standards are often associated with better consumer protection and quality of life. However, this correlation is not unequivocal, as neither markets nor government regulation work perfectly. This observation is especially true for developing and emerging countries. In this sense, we wonder how a country’s quality infrastructure can best be aligned to contribute to economically sustainable development and the quality of life of its citizens in challenging contexts.
Dr. Ulrich Harmes-Liedtke
May 23, 2022
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The interaction of QA, QM and QI
What is the difference between quality assurance and quality infrastructure? I was recently asked this question by a young colleague who has just started coordinating projects to promote quality infrastructure. The answer to this question is undoubtedly essential for every newcomer to quality infrastructure. Moreover, it is also a welcome stimulus to think more fundamentally about the relationship between these concepts.
Dr. Ulrich Harmes-Liedtke
Apr 11, 2022
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Quality infrastructure as an ally of the circular economy
Our current economic model has already exceeded the Earth’s ecological limits and is endangering the stability of the ecosystem and the livelihoods of humankind.
Dr. Ulrich Harmes-Liedtke
Mar 14, 2022
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Quality infrastructure, trade and environmental agreements
The potentially tumultuous relationship between Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreements has been an issue of special interest within the international trade and environmental debate for decades.
Dr. Ulrich Harmes-Liedtke
Jan 31, 2022
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Data on international standards
What are the differences between countries using international standards?
For decades, the United States, Western Europe and Japan have led international standard development. Representatives of these countries chaired most international standards committees and led standard making through agenda-setting and the know-how of national companies and scientific institutions.
Dr. Ulrich Harmes-Liedtke
Jan 24, 2022
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Calidena – Closing quality gaps jointly
A simple way to explain the importance of quality infrastructure is to refer to a specific product. For example, if we take any food product, such as a frozen pizza, we can clearly explain the requirements of food safety standards or the verification of the cold chain.
Dr. Ulrich Harmes-Liedtke
Dec 12, 2021
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Quality infrastructure for the service sector
Quality infrastructure has its origins in the industrial revolution of the 19th century, first in England, then throughout Western Europe and the USA, and later spread to Japan and other parts of Europe and Asia during the transition from agrarian to industrial societies. For a long time, QI was mainly a matter of checking whether physical products met defined technical specifications.
Dr. Ulrich Harmes-Liedtke
Nov 1, 2021
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