Vienna, Austria, 16 December 2025 – The World Development Report 2025 highlights the strategic role of standards and Quality Infrastructure in advancing sustainable development, drawing on UNIDO’s long standing technical engagement to illustrate how coherent Quality Infrastructure systems support industrial competitiveness, innovation and inclusive growth.
The report presents Quality Infrastructure systems encompassing standards, accreditation, metrology, conformity assessment and market surveillance as essential foundations for reliable markets. Strengthening these systems is identified as critical for countries seeking to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals while navigating rapid technological change and growing environmental pressures.
Through global experience in standards and Quality Infrastructure, including UNIDO’s technical work across regions and sectors, the report illustrates how coherent national Quality Infrastructure systems strengthen regulatory compliance, facilitate trade and support industrial development in developing and emerging economies.
“Investing in Quality Infrastructure is a strategic imperative. The World Development Report 2025 makes clear that quality systems are critical infrastructure that build trust, enhance productivity, and equip industries to respond to the technological and market demands of the present and the future. By supporting countries to leverage standards, UNIDO helps turn compliance into competitive advantage and ensures that industrialization is equitable and sustainable”, said Ciyong Zou, Deputy to the Director General and Managing Director, UNIDO.
The findings further highlight the role of Quality Infrastructure in enabling countries to meet health, safety, and environmental requirements, supporting green technologies and fostering industrial diversification. It also emphasizes that Quality Infrastructure plays a critical role in advancing digitalization and innovation ecosystems, ensuring that emerging technologies meet international benchmarks for quality and safety.
The report also underscores the importance of Quality Infrastructure for strengthening market surveillance and embedding trust and transparency in products and services. Particular attention is given to small and medium sized enterprises, which rely on effective standards, testing and certification to participate in global value chains and adapt to rapid technological and climate related change.
Overall, the World Development Report 2025 confirms that standards and Quality Infrastructure are not optional technical instruments but strategic enablers of competitiveness, resilience and sustainable growth, closely aligned with UNIDO’s mandate to promote inclusive and sustainable industrial development.
Download the World Development Report 2025 here
For more information contact: Alejandro Rivera Rojas