An NMI is typically a public good organization, that has a variety of stakeholders, among them:

The reason why governments invest in NMIs is that NMIs have a strong and transversal influence in many aspects that are primarily responsibility of states towards their citizens, among them:

• Quality of life: health, safety, environmental protection, security, consumer protection.
• Industrial development and service providers: quality of production and services, productivity, efficiency, competitiveness.
• Economy and commerce: equity in commerce, free trade, non technical barriers.
• Innovation and technology development: evaluating efficiency and effectivity, comparability and confidence in results, new measurement methods and technologies.