The Italian Institute of Welding is a private organization, set up in 1948 as an association of individual and legal persons, whose main tasks are research, training, certification and technical assistance in the field of welding.

The Institute has been enacted on 1961/06/20 as an “Ente morale” (no-profit company) by the President of the Republic (D.P.R. 882), in this way placing its image within an ambit more consistent with its statutory objectives.

The Institute is characterized by its multidisciplinary and versatile structure, made-up of operative divisions, each specialised in its competence sector and offering a global service in Italy and abroad (www.iis.it). The Institute has a staff of more than 200 people, of whom about two thirds are graduate or non-graduate engineers.

The main activities performed by IIS cover certification (www.certificazionesaldatura.it) of products, procedures and personnel, technical assistance in the field of design, product fabrication, inspection and and NDT; research in welding processes, metallurgy and NDT; standardization (IIS has the chairmanship and secretariat of “UNI Commissione Saldatura” - the national standardization body for welding); moreover it holds one of the biggest libraries devoted to welding in Europe (www.weldinglibrary.com). The Italian Institute of Welding is provided with the most modern equipment which is continuously updated, with the aim to attain the best qualitative results.
The Italian Institute of Welding is a founder member of the International Institute of Welding (IIW) and of the European Welding Federation (EWF). Inside both organizations the Institute has held, and still holds, important offices. Besides, it works together with some executive and research committees of the European Union.

In 1988 its seat was moved to the actual building in Genova, where technical departments and laboratories are gathered in an area of 11.000 sqm, 7.500 of which are covered.