History

At the IFIP World Computer Congress (WCC) in 2006 in Santiago de Chile, it was decided to "initiate a vigorous program of activity to promote professionalism worldwide". A Taskforce was formed consisting of the Australian Computer Society (ACS), the British Computer Society (BCS), the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS), the IEEE-CS, and IFIP. The Taskforce’s first meeting was hosted by the Computer Society of South Africa (CSSA) in Cape Town in January 2007. The CSSA has remained an active participant in the Taskforce since that meeting. The Taskforce’s conclusion from that meeting was that the time was right to:

"Develop a vigorous program to promote professionalism worldwide"

IFIP Council supported the vision, and a detailed proposal for establishing the program was developed. The IFIP General Assembly (GA) reviewed the Taskforce’s report at its 2007 meeting and agreed to:

• Confirm the intention for IFIP to create and launch a global IT Professional Practice Program;
• Invite the existing Taskforce members to continue its work;
• Delegate to the IFIP Executive Board the responsibility of oversight of Task Force activities until such time that an official governing body had been approved; and
• Encourage IFIP Member Societies to take an active role in helping to develop and promote the program.

Since that historic meeting in 2007, the Taskforce has accomplished a number of significant milestones.

• A professional IT standard and related accreditation policies and procedures for the assessment of members associations to award the IP3Professional (IP3) were approved.
• In September 2008 at the IFIP World Computer Congress in Milan, the Australian Computer Society (ACS) became the first professional association to receive IP3 accreditation for its Computer Professional (CP) status.
• At that meeting, IFIP reaffirmed its position on IT professionalism by adopting the “WCC 2008 Declaration on ICT Professionalism and Competences”
• The Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS) was the second association to receive the accreditation recognition in December 2008.

IP3 has also forged contacts with major international bodies such as the European Commission, Seoul Accord, CEPIS, the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the International Labour Organization, and the International Telecommunications Union. Steps are also being taken to engage with other major international organizations including the United Nations, UNESCO, NASSCOM and SEARCC.

In 2010, IP3 established the Professional Standards Committee and Council and the Accreditation Committee.