Innumerable products and services rely in some way on technology, measurement, and standards. We easily understand that from structural tests of building materials to patient blood tests in hospitals, accurate measurements are the foundation of global trade and a better quality of life. Most people are familiar with measurement standards for physical units such as the kilogram or the second. However, complex measurements, such as determining what fraction of human proteins function properly, do not have global standards. In such cases, reference materials containing a precise level of a substance or property are developed and produced by specialized institutions and distributed to laboratories around the world. This symposium brings together leading actors from some of the limited number of research centers around the globe with this expertise. Presentations will evidence how traditional boundaries between physics, chemistry, and biology are disappearing. Speakers will underscore how scientists must solve measurement challenges of an ever-increasing complexity and multidisciplinary nature. This work stimulates innovation, fosters industrial competitiveness, and advances the technological infrastructure needed to continually improve products and services. Speakers with direct experience of metrology applied to nutrition in large-scale population studies (United States), environmental monitoring (Korea), and emerging sciences (European Union) will participate.