​​​There is a continued drive and focus to support the Regional Integration goals of IPAP, and to position NMISA appropriately in the Regional and International arena. Other focus areas, include the development of new business through consultancy to NMIs in Africa and assistance to SMEs with the potential to export. Further, targeted assistance will be given to rural SMEs with basic training in metrology. Co-operation with the metrology institutes of the BRIC countries are being improved on issues of joint concern, such as to provide accurate measurement for biofuels, nanotechnology and advanced manufacturing. Specific metrology development projects with other NMIs in the Region include assistance to Intra-regional trade and support to the AfCFTA. This also includes a special focus on assistance to exporters to negate technical barriers to trade with main trading partners, both Regionally and Internationally. Activities in support of SADC and SADCMET, Africa and AFRIMETS and the CIPM MRA such as attendance of meetings, training, benchmarking of NMISA capabilities against other countries and organising of comparison of National measurement Measurement Standards of Regional NMIs will continue, but there is a special focus to leverage the NMISA position in these structures to increase impact and revenue. Research collaborations with universities and research institutions (including the top NMIs), in support of the research programmes and especially the redefinition of the SI, is high on the agenda. It also provides the basis for NMISA to access more funding from the NRF and DST for research. NMISA assisted DST with the development of a roadmap for Materials Characterisation as part of the South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap. DST has allocated R15 million for 2019/20 to establish a node to manage the project and NMISA is proposing to host the facility. ​