AbstractThis study sought to measure the economic consequences of reduced expenditure on specific sections of the UK National Measurement System (NMS), part of the state‐funded technological infrastructure. A method was developed which can be adapted to any publicly or privately financed R&D of which the benefits and cost‐effectiveness are unclear or contested.The recent interactions between the NMS and industry were investigated empirically. Five mechanisms were found to account for the majority of instances of successful value creation. Several case studies of each mechanism were collected, illustrating their existence beyond reasonable doubt.Each of the cut projects would have been expected to have encouraged growth and profitability in identified sectors of the economy through one or more of these five mechanisms. The effects of the cuts were modelled over 30 years. Compared to the costs of the cut projects projected over the same period, the benefits to the economy were predicted to exceed the co