Measurement is a critical foundation for technological innovation, especially in the biosciences, where new discoveries promise to greatly improve our quality of life. As the U.S. Measurement Institute, NIST had a need to understand the key measurement barriers that could be impeding these important advances and NIST’s role in finding solutions.

Energetics conducted a series of technical panels to evaluate the gaps in measurement technology relative to technological innovation in five key areas of the biosciences: next generation agriculture, energy, biomanufacturing, environment, and personalized medicine. We used a carefully designed facilitation process to obtain key insights from a group of international scientists and engineers, and developed a strategic report on the vision for the future, broad challenges, measurement barriers, and potential solutions going forward.

The workshop report (provided above) and subsequent strategic NIST planning document serve as a first-ever assessment of measurement science in these important areas. These two reports have been published and are being used to guide public and private decision making on research and development and other programs in bioscience.