ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that quality infrastructure plays a vital role for achieving national strategic development goals by contributing to the national economy's innovation capability. It explores the link between national quality infrastructure and innovation capability by explaining its contributions to the main functions of an innovation system (IS). Standard development organizations offer platforms to interested companies, users and other interested groups to develop voluntary standards, often called formal standards, according to a number of principles such as transparency, openness and consensus. The process of standardization and its effectiveness depends on the creation of measurement instruments, on the better accuracy of the existing tools and procedures. It also depends on the dissemination of the measurement knowledge and access to measurement technology throughout the productive agents. Conformity assessment can be applied to a product, process, system, body or persons and includes activities such as testing, inspection and certification.
