Why a digital framework for the SI

Abstract There has been a significant quantity of debate recently about how metrology and the SI should embrace the emerging societal and scientific trends of digitalisation and the open data movement. Much of this discussion has focussed on ‘how’ this transition will be implemented, and recent conferences and significantly advanced this understanding (International Bureau of Weights and Measures, 2021 [1]). However, there has been little if any reflection on ‘why’ this transition is required. This deficiency is worth addressing to provide the evidence base for the ‘why’ and so drive forward faster progress with the ‘how’. Analogy is drawn between the recent revision of the SI and the need to provide a similar step change in end users’ experience of the benefits that digitalisation should bring.