78th IIW Annual Assembly Recap

The IIW community's relationships further grew on the occasion of the 78th IIW Annual Assembly and International Conference on Welding and Joining in Genoa, Italy, from June 22 through 27, 2025. The event's great success, with over 2,000 attendees, testifies to the strength of the IIW international Welding and Joining community.

During the Opening Ceremony of the 78th IIW Annual Assembly of the International Institute of Welding (IIW), IIW honored the winners of prestigious IIW Awards and acknowledged their contributions to welding and joining around the world. IIW is proud to promote and recognize distinction through its numerous prizes and awards, often sponsored by Member Societies. Many are named to pay tribute to eminent individuals who were founding fathers of IIW, or champions of its global role, or made significant contributions to the development and implementation of scientific and technical advances in welding and allied processes. It was the dedication and vision of these famous IIW personalities that set the stage for the organization to be recognized today as the largest and most prestigious worldwide network for the exchange of knowledge and cooperation in a wide range of joining and related technologies.

At this 78th IIW Annual Assembly, IIW Annual Awards acknowledged not only people with outstanding accomplishments or technical achievements, illustrious careers, or long and meritorious service to the IIW around the world but also encourage promising young professionals.

Honorees were:

• Fellow of the IIW, awarded to Boian Alexandrov and Patrick W. Hochanadel
• Evgeny Paton Award, awarded to Yuming Zhang
• Arthur Smith Award, awarded to Satoru Asai
• Yoshiaki Arata Award, awarded to Fumiyoshi Minami
• Thomas Medal, awarded to Jochen W. Mußmann
• Chris Smallbone Award, awarded to Michail Karpenko
• Henry Granjon cat. A Award, awarded to Kaue Riffel
• Henry Granjon cat. B Award, awarded to Xinyu Ren
• Henry Granjon cat. C Award, awarded to Gustav Hultgren
• Henry Granjon cat. D Award, awarded to Yue Cao
• Halil Kaya Gedik Award awarded to V. BALASUBRAMANIAN
• Welding in the World Best Paper award, Category A: Welding Processes and Additive Manufacturing, awarded to Fernando Scotti
• Welding in the World Best Paper, Category B: Materials and Metallurgy, awarded to Sten Wessman and Elin Marianne Westin
• Welding in the World Best Paper, Category C: Structural Integrity, Design and Fitness for Service, awarded to Niklas M. Bauer
• Ugo Guerrera Prize, awarded to Kévin Affari for MX3D

The 79th IIW Annual Assembly and International Conference on Welding and Joining will take place in Salzburg, Austria, from July 12 through 17, 2026. 

(Source: IIW International Institute for Welding)