IFIP’s mission

IFIP’s mission is to be the leading, truly international, apolitical organisation which encourages and assists in the development, exploitation and application of Information Technology for the benefit of all people.

Its mission is :

1. To stimulate, encourage and participate in research, development and application of Information Technology (IT) and to foster international co-operation in these activities.
2. To provide a meeting place where national IT Societies can discuss and plan courses of action on issues in our field which are of international significance and thereby to forge increasingly strong links between them and with IFIP.
3. To promote international co-operation directly and through national IT Societies in a free environment between individuals, national and international governmental bodies and kindred scientific and professional organisations.
4. To pay special attention to the needs of developing countries and to assist them in appropriate ways to secure the optimum benefit from the application of IT.
5. To promote professionalism, incorporating high standards of ethics and conduct, among all IT practitioners.
6. To provide a forum for assessing the social consequences of IT applications ; to campaign for the safe and beneficial development and use of IT and the protection of people from abuse through its improper application.
7. To foster and facilitate co-operation between academics, the IT industry and governmental bodies and to seek to represent the interest of users.
8. To provide a vehicle for work on the international aspects of IT development and application including the necessary preparatory work for the generation of international standards.
9. To contribute to the formulation of the education and training needed by IT practitioners, users and the public at large.

Origins

IFIP traces its roots to the very first major international conference on computers and computing which was held in Paris in 1959 under the auspices of UNESCO. Representatives of the main computer societies active in computing got together at that meeting to explore ways of building on the achievements of the conference. As a result thirteen national computer societies agreed to found in 1960 an international federation and named it IFIP - the International Federation for Information Processing.

IFIP’s principal aims are to foster international co-operation, to stimulate research, development and applications and to encourage education and the dissemination and exchange of information on all aspects of computing and communication.

IFIP’s creation was well timed. In the 1960s there began a veritable explosion in the growth of the computer industry and in the application of its products. Within the life-span of IFIP information technology (as it is widely known today) has become a potent instrument affecting people in everything from their education and work to their leisure and in their homes. It is a powerful tool in science and engineering, in commerce and industry, in education and administration and in entertainment.

Membership

Today IFIP has 48 national organisations as Full Members, 3 Corresponding Members and 10 Affiliate Members, representing countries from all regions of the world and international organisations.

Organisation

A General Assembly of all its Members and TC Chairs takes place annually and has overall responsibility for all of IFIP’s strategy, finance and activities. It elects a President, four Vice-presidents, a Treasurer, a Secretary and eight Trustees who together form the IFIP Council which meets twice a year.