NIST: Did you know...
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NIST's weights and measures services, a job assigned to the federal government in the Constitution, provide the basis for the fairness and efficiency of sales. These services underpin the efficiency of about half the U.S. economy, or about $7 trillion of the U.S. gross domestic product.
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Without NIST, U.S. manufacturers of such products as glucose and cholesterol test kits—in vitro diagnostic (IVD) devices—wouldn’t be able to meet requirements of new European Union regulations and would have been shut out of the $7 billion European market where they now have more than 60 percent of the business?
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The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s highest honor awarded by the President of the United States to U.S. organizations for their performance excellence and quality achievements, is managed by NIST—and the award criteria are used by thousands of companies, schools, and hospitals to improve their products and services?
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NIST-developed performance-measurement methods have accelerated the adoption of new manufacturing capabilities, such as accuracy-enhancing software for machine tools, and led to new technology, such as laser tracker measurement systems used increasingly in the aerospace, automotive, and other industries?
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NIST’s technical contributions to the development of encryption standards for information technology have been estimated to have saved private industry more than $1 billion—and enable consumers and business to be confident about the security of their
billions of dollars worth of electronic data transactions daily, such as withdrawals from ATMs?
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About 2.6 billion times a day, or 30,000 times a second, NIST’s Internet Time Service sets computer clocks and other networked timekeeping devices, such as those used to synchronize telecommunications systems?
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In the Army alone, 58,000 different types of equipment require regular “NIST traceable” calibration, ensuring that measurements made during the development, testing, maintenance, and operation are valid; that their system will perform as designed; and that they will be interoperable with other systems on the battlefield?
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NIST developed the testing procedures and other key technical elements of the Department of Homeland Security’s performance standards for radiation detectors used at seaports, airports, and other points of entry into the United States?
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Emissions trading, called for by the Clean Air Act of 1990, depends on an initiative begun by NIST and the Environmental Protection Agency in cooperation with the specialty gas industry—and that a $64 billion market was created?
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NIST led the development of performance standards and placement recommendations for smoke detectors, now in 94 percent of American homes and saving thousands of lives, or that half of home fire deaths occur in the 6 percent of homes with no smoke alarms?
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Closed-captioning for people with impaired hearing, now featured on all TV sets, was co-invented at NIST, earning it an Emmy Award in 1980?
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In a recent survey completed in FY 2007, covering projects completed in fiscal year 2006, 4,959 clients of NIST’s Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership reported that, as a result of MEP services, they realized $1.1 billion in cost savings; invested $1.6 billion in modernization, including plant and equipment, information systems, and workforce training; increased or retained $6.8 billion in sales; and created and retained over 52,000 jobs?
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U.S. automakers and their suppliers, which account for more than 3 percent of the nation’s GDP, rely on NIST Standard Reference Materials to ensure quality in a wide range of tasks, from the processing of materials to final assembly, to emissions compliance?
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