2026 International Conference of Weighing

David Sefcik and Jan Konijnenburg from the NIST Office of Weights and Measures, together with Leon Chao from the NIST Fundamental Electrical Measurements Group, attended the International Conference of Weighing (ICW) held in Kitakyushu, Japan, June 8 to 10, 2026.

The theme for the conference was “Innovative Weighing Solutions for a Sustainable World.” During the three-day conference, a variety of stakeholders from industry, measuring institutes, and regulators gave presentations on different topics in the fields of legal metrology, applied metrology, and scientific metrology. In addition, there was a poster exhibition on over 70 various topics. One of the sponsoring parties and presenters at the conference was the National Council on Weights and Measures (NCWM), represented by Kevin Schnepp (California Department of Food and Agriculture), Don Onwiler (NCWM), and Jeff Gibson (NCWM).

Key themes included sustainability, traceability, artificial intelligence (AI), and digitalization. The conference included some very interesting presentations, like the digital quality infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, robotic mass comparators, an update on the NIST tabletop Kibble balance, and machine-readable type examination certificates.

The conference offered a great opportunity to meet and network with colleagues and experts in the weighing industry and legal metrology, and to learn about the latest technical and regulatory developments. The next ICW conference will be held in 2029 in the United Kingdom (U.K.).