(National Institute of Standards and Technology, Washington, D.C.) -- A new report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), An Assessment of the United States Measurement System: Addressing Measurement Barriers to Accelerate Innovation, details results of the agency’s first-ever assessment of the capacity of the nation’s measurement infrastructure—a large, diverse collection of private and public-sector organizations—to sustain U.S. innovation at a world-leading pace.

Innovation is vital to the long-term health of the U.S. economy: the better we do in conceiving, developing and applying new technology, the brighter our nation’s future. Innovation has helped the United States sustain the world’s most productive workforce, raise our standard of living and open new avenues of opportunity that inspire a continuing quest to discover, invent and be first to market with new products and services.

More than 1,000 people from industry, academia and government contributed to the wide-ranging NIST assessment of the state of the nation’s measurement system and its impact on innovation. The result is a snapshot appraisal of measurement needs across 11 industrial sectors and technology areas, from materials to software and from building and construction to nanotechnology. Altogether, more than 700 measurement-related barriers to innovation were identified and evaluated.

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