National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce. NIST’s mission is to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.
NIST was founded in 1901 as the National Bureau of Standards (NBS). NBS’ primary mission was to eliminate trade barriers through standardization; at that time, there were no international standards for weights and measures or for electrical units. In 1988, Congress designated NBS as a statutory institute within the Department of Commerce, renaming it the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Today, NIST comprises 27 laboratories with more than 2,900 employees who carry out its work in four strategic areas:
•Weights and Measures: Ensuring fairness in commerce worldwide by developing standardized methods for measuring everything from length to electricity;
•Communications Technology: Developing technical standards that enable efficient interoperability between communications devices and systems;
•Information Security: Working with industry partners to develop robust cyber security solutions that protect America’s critical infrastructure from attack;
•Advanced Manufacturing: Fostering American leadership in advanced manufacturing technologies such as nanotechnology and metrology—the science of measurement.