VITO and NBN: how standards are the foundation for reliable environmental research
Last updated:
28/11/2025
VITO, the Flemish Institute for Technological Research, is today a multidisciplinary organisation with more than 1,300 researchers working daily on sustainable solutions for people, nature and the economy. Within that broad research landscape, standards play a crucial role. They ensure that analyses are reliable, that data remain internationally comparable and that VITO can assume its role as Flemish reference laboratory in a well-founded manner.
Anita Maertens, who has been monitoring standards management within VITO for more than a decade, sees every day how important that role is. Although she does not conduct research herself, she feels strongly how standards are a common thread throughout dozens of projects: "Following up on standards is indispensable. You have to be able to demonstrate on what basis you are working and what source you are using to support your results."
Within VITO today, about 128 employees have active access to the NBN standards portal. These are mainly researchers who, in the context of their projects, need to consult specific methods or provisions. Since VITO is an international organisation with colleagues from many different countries, this is almost always done in English. The English language versions of standards are therefore most frequently used.
Management is smooth and centralized. Anita gives employees access, tracks requests and sees that users quickly find their way around the platform. She describes it as a simple process in which colleagues can immediately start accessing the information they need. "I get back very often that they can work immediately once they have access. The platform is very user-friendly," she says.
That ease of use is important because standards fulfill a functional and scientific role within VITO: they provide researchers with a clear, consistent framework in which to perform, interpret and report their measurements. For a reference laboratory - where quality, repeatability and comparability of results are central - this is essential.
VITO works for companies and governments, but also for European institutions in need of reliable environmental data. The organisation combines expertise in more than 40 fields and has unique laboratory and testing infrastructure. In that ecosystem, precision is crucial. For example, when researchers analyze soil, water or air, every part of the measurement must be traceable and verifiable. Standards provide that assurance.
Also in projects where non-standardized cases are compared with existing standards - something that happens regularly within VITO - the NBN portal is a direct source of information. By having quick access to the correct standard, researchers can check which provisions exist, where there is room for interpretation and how their case relates to existing methods.
In addition to using standards, VITO also plays an active role in their development. They do so through participation in European and international technical committees, such as CEN/TC 444 - Environmental characterization of solid matrices.
Within those committees, new standards are being developed for the characterization of soil, sediments, waste and building materials. That role is more relevant today than ever, especially now that the European Union has adopted the EU Soil Monitoring Law. That law calls for a harmonized approach to soil quality and health across Europe.
VITO's involvement ensures that the Flemish and European context is scientifically underpinned. It allows researchers to help shape new methods of analysis and to accelerate the implementation of standards in policy and practice. This goes beyond merely applying standards: VITO helps give direction to future methods that will guide environmental research in Europe in the coming years.
What VITO particularly appreciates in the cooperation with NBN is the accessibility and the certainty that there is always someone ready when questions arise. For Anita, this is a daily reality. "If I get a question I can't answer myself, I can always reach someone at NBN. That gives confidence and makes my job much easier," she says.
She also emphasizes that NBN looks beyond just the portal: it thinks along about solutions, about efficient use of collections and about how VITO can organize its standards management optimally. It is support that, as she herself describes it, "covers the whole picture."
At the end of the conversation, we asked what the NBN mottoTrusted Knowledge" means to VITO. For Anita, that was not a difficult question. For her, it is about certainty, reliability and the feeling that information is correct.
"For us, it means that we are confident that you are giving us the right, reliable info. That trust is really there. We know we're with the correct partner."
For an organisation working on environmental quality, health and sustainability, that confidence is essential. The world of tomorrow needs science that works - and VITO and NBN build on that foundation every day.
Want to know how NBN can also help your organisation with efficient standards management?
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