Accurate measurements and reliable calibration are crucial for industry, healthcare, environmental monitoring, and regulation. However, many emerging economies encounter substantial obstacles: inadequate funding, insufficient calibration infrastructure, a lack of trained personnel, and inconsistent access to traceable standards. The special section “Low-Cost Metrology and Calibration Strategies for Emerging Economies” emphasizes practical, economical, and traceable methods to bridge existing gaps and enhance local capacity development.

Cost-effective calibration enhances economic competitiveness by enabling small and medium enterprises to satisfy quality and conformity standards, thereby diminishing non-tariff barriers and facilitating access to international markets. In public health, reliable measurements facilitate more precise diagnostics, safer pharmaceuticals, and efficient environmental and food safety monitoring. In technology and agriculture, affordable metrology facilitates the adoption of IoT devices, renewable energy systems, and precision farming instruments by enabling testing, validation, and certification at local levels. Examples include, but not limited to, affordable calibration enables local laboratories to certify solar panels or low-cost traceability solutions improving water quality testing in rural areas. These examples establish a direct link between metrology and concrete social and economic benefits such as employment, trade, and health.

This section will collect comprehensive research, field reports, and practical methodologies, including innovative low-cost instrument designs validated in real-world settings; decentralized and community-oriented calibration models such as mobile laboratories and regional hubs; and hybrid workflows that integrate affordable sensors with online calibration services and regular assessments against reference standards to maintain traceability. It also invites approaches for uncertainty quantification tailored to streamlined workflows, policy and business model evaluations that facilitate sustainable service provision, and case studies illustrating quantifiable economic, social, or health outcomes.
This special section connects fundamental measurement science with developmental priorities by emphasizing affordability while maintaining metrological rigor. It encourages interdisciplinary contributions from engineers, metrologists, policymakers, social scientists, and practitioners to generate actionable solutions for implementation by standards bodies, NGOs, industry, and communities. Enhancing affordable metrology will strengthen global measurement confidence and expand access to the advantages of technology, commerce, and public welfare. The results will guide standards, training initiatives, and scalable frameworks for enduring sustainability across various economic and geographic contexts, while also supporting local scientific ecosystems.