The decade of the 1990s may be the most exciting and demanding for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) since its creation as the National Bureau of Standards in 1901. After 90 years of steady progress supporting U.S. industry's needs for standards and ever more exacting measurement methods, NIST is expanding its domain.

We are building on our already extensive ties with industry to refocus and strengthen research programs and services that help U.S.-based companies compete in the global marketplace. And we're looking for ways to help companies master the three main elements of commercial success: quality, low cost, and speed to market.

We've made it every NIST researcher's job to seek out industrial partners to ensure that our work is relevant to industry needs. At the same time, we've greatly expanded our formal outreach efforts, including direct grants to industry for development of precompetitive generic technologies and regional centers to provide small and medium-sized businesses with advice on commercially available technologies and quality management.

We expect such extramural programs to represent a growing share of NIST's overall budget in the coming years. In addition, according to projections in the President's 1992 budget request, NIST's total appropriations will double by 1996.

Our goal indeed our obligation—is to make NIST not only the nation's premier measurement laboratory, but also a “user friendly” resource of expertise on the latest technologies—superconductors, lightwave electronics,