The development of metrology in the Caribbean has generally been adversely impacted by many of the specific social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities associated with their characterization as Small Island Developing States (SIDS). More specifically, in many countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), whilst recognized by some of the major industries, metrology is often not high on the list of priorities for policy makers, and, is still more or less unknown to the majority of citizens, due in the main to the lack of awareness and appreciation of the impact of measurement science on their lives. Also, in addition to the limiting cross cutting theme of finance, many National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) are faced with the challenges of limited human and customer capital, weak regional transportation modalities, public misperception and the lack of suitable laboratory infrastructure. In order to address these challenges, the CARICOM NMIs have unified within the framework of CARIMET, the Caribbean sub-region of the Inter-American Metrology System (SIM) to pool assets and develop regional mechanisms to address the measurement demands across the region.
