UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT COMMERCE • Maurice H. Stans, Secretary NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS Lewis M. Branscomb, Director Metrology and Standardization in Less-Developed Countries: The Role of a National Capability for Industrializing Economies For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 (Order by SD Catalog No. C 13.10:359), Price $5.00 Stock Number 0303-0951 FOREWORD Industrialization of a developing economy calls for a technological infrastructure to deal with problems of stimulating enterprise, assessing alternative courses, choosing manufacturing methods, and controlling product quality. In these tasks, measurement science and engineering standardization have an important role; yet with different governmental philosophies and economic structures, the needs and priorities of government action will vary greatly. The National Bureau of Standards has been considering how its experience in metrology and standardization could be employed in collaboration with the U.S. Agency for International Development for assisting less developed countries to build up their own technological infrastructures. The NBS itself seeks an understanding of how its services to the science and industry of the U.S.A. should best be managed. In this self-evaluation we find ourselves working in parallel and in close sympathy with all industrializing nations of the world. The Seminar reported here concerns the problems faced by less developed countries seeking industrialization. With financial support from U.S. AID, thirteen expert participants from abroad came to express their views on possible relevance of NBS programs. Discussions took place in the light of findings of such organizations as the United Nations Advisory Committee on the Application of Science and Technology to Development, and the 1969 UNIDO Symposium on Industrial Development. In each of eight sessions, several invited papers were presented, followed by informal discussion which ranged widely among diverse viewpoints. We are especially grateful to our guests for their full and frank comments. We at NBS feel the Seminar made a contribution that deserves the record inherent in these Proceedings. However, caution is the best advice NBS has to offer. Developing nations should not be over-awed by the achievements of industrialized nations and those of metrological laboratories like NBS; they should not necessarily aim at imitating the supposedly successful centers. One needs to realize that ideal solutions are rarely found by any industry or any nation. Often the solution of one problem creates a new unsuspected future problem. However, even if this country cannot solve the problems of other nations, we can all work more effectively by comparing techniques, attitudes, and interests as we have done during the course of this Seminar. So many organizations and individuals have contributed to the Seminar that proper acknowledgements would be unduly long. I want only to single out the Scientific Apparatus Makers Association, which arranged a post-Seminar tour of several U.S.A. manufacturing plants for our overseas guests. To all participants, I give my hearty thanks. LEWIS M. BRANSCOMB |