NIST establishing $15M standardization center for critical technologies led by ASTM

The U.S National Institute of Standards and Technology is standing up a Standardization Center of Excellence to be led by ASTM International, and has allocated $15 million to fund it.

The Center will work on building standards for critical and emerging technologies that are considered essential to America’s competitiveness and national security.

ASTM International, which has been advocating for the importance of standards for facial recognition since at least 2021, will partner with multiple organizations involved in standards development, according to the announcement. They include the American National Standards Institute, better known as ANSI, the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), IEEE, UL Standards and Engagement, CSA Group, Accuris, Nexight Group and others.

NIST Associate Director for Laboratory Programs Charles Romine emphasized the importance of American participation in formulating international standards.

“This first-of-its-kind public-private partnership will help us advance international standardization for the critical and emerging technologies that are changing our lives every day, such as artificial intelligence, quantum technology and biotechnology,” he comments.

The Standardization Center of Excellence will focus on encouraging private sector participation early in the process, particularly from small and medium-sized enterprises, and on building up the workforce capacity for “a pipeline of professionals” that can lead standards development efforts. It will collaborate with NIST on a pilot program to accelerate standards development for selected technologies, and create a data-sharing hub to be a central resource for the standards ecosystem.

NIST intends for the center’s work to align with the U.S. Government National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology (USG NSSCET).

The Security Industry Association (SIA) has announced a webinar on “The Future of NIST Technical Evaluations of Biometric Technologies” for November 12. The webinar is sponsored by Leidos and SAIC, and will feature NIST’s Patrick Grother. For its part, NIST has announced the International Face and Fingerprint Performance Conference (IFPC) 2025, co-hosted by DHS S&T and the EAB, will be held April 1 to 3.

Article Topics

ASTM International  |  biometric testing  |  facial recognition  |  NIST  |  Security Industry Association (SIA)  |  standards