Singapore hosted the 76th IIW Annual Assembly

Running the Event

The 76th IIW Annual Assembly and International Conference was hosted by the local member society of IIW, the Singapore Welding Society (SWS), supported by the IIW Secretariat and IAB Management Team. Registration started on 15th February 2023 and the conference centre was officially opened on 16 July, facilitating the participation of over 800 people. At the end of the event, IIW is proud to announce that the 76th Annual Assembly and International Conference on Welding and Joining has been a huge success with great participation globally and significant and prolific technical output: 

• 46 Countries represented.
• 30 – 190 participants per session.
• 378 Professors, Doctors, Engineers, and professionals.
• 245 Young Professionals and students.
• 129 attendees to the International Conference only.
• 20 participants (delegates, experts and young profesianals) from Ukraine attended remotely due to
  heavy restrictions to international travels and based on the specific commitment of the IIW to support
  their national welding community.

46 Countries were represented at the 76th IIW Annual Assembly and International Conference on Welding and Joining. As usual, participants were grouped in delegations managed by the IIW Member Societies, the national welding organisations of IIW member Countries.

IIW is grateful to the organizations that sponsored the event for their support:

• Yan San Metals (GOLD sponsorship)
• Addept3D Pte Ltd, TRUMPF Pte Ltd, Lincoln Electric (SILVER sponsorship)
• Kiswel, CETIM, Yanda (Haimen) Heavy Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd (BRONZE Sponsorship)

Prestigious Awards

During the Opening Ceremony of the 76th 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 which set the stage for the organisation 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 76th IIW Annual Assembly, IIW Annual Awards acknowledge 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 who are our future industry and Institute leaders.

Heartiest congratulations go to the 76th IIW Annual Assembly winners whose achievements and professionalism, whether at the peak of the mountains or in the foothills, are outstanding examples of determination on the pathway to excellence.

• Fellow of the IIW, awarded to Jorge Dos Santos, Norbert Enzinger and Thomas Kannengiesser
• Evgeny Paton Award, awarded to Murali Tumuluru
• Arthur Smith Award, awarded to Herbert Staufer
• Yoshiaki Arata Award, awarded to Sergio Amancio
• Thomas Medal, awarded to Takeshi Araya
• Chris Smallbone Award, awarded to Solomon Edebiri
• Walter Edström Medal, awarded to Gary Marquis
• Henry Granjon cat. A Award, awarded to Dongsheng Wu
• Henry Granjon cat. B Award, awarded to Banglong Fu and Niklas Sommer
• Henry Granjon cat. D Award, awarded to Wenhua Jiao
• Halil Kaya Gedik Award awarded to W. Richard Polanin
• Welding in the World Best Paper award, Category A: Welding Processes and Additive Manufacturing awarded to Haichuan Shi
• Welding in the World Best Paper, Category B: Materials and Metallurgy awarded to Shotaro Yamashita
• Welding in the World Best Paper, Category C: Structural Integrity, Design and Fitness for Service awarded to Antti Ahola.

Celebrating 75 years of IIW contributions to the quality of life

The annual assembly in Singapore was the occasion to celebrate 75 years of history of IIW. During the Gala Banquet, the milestones of the association were run through since the foundation in 1948 from the associations of 13 countries, until today with over 50 countries represented and more interested in joining. During the past 75 years, IIW contributed to the development of science by sharing knowledge and experiences on welding and allied processes, offering qualifications and certifications and developing best practices, standards and guidance documents that are now part of the global manufacturing culture.

During the celebrations, the following individuals and organisations received a certificate of appreciation from IIW for their outstanding contributions to the development of the association:

• Damian Kotecki (Posthumous)
• Glenn Ziegenfuss
• Adolf Hobbacher
• Hee-Jin Kim
• John Lippold
• Weld Australia

This was also the occasion for the hand-over of the Presidency from Sorin Keller (Switzerland) ending his term, to Thomas Böllinghaus (Germany).

The Artistic Soul of Welding 2022 Digital Collection

The 2023 welded art photographic exhibition resulted from the very successful initiative launched at the IIW Annual Assembly in 2019 in Bratislava, Slovakia. Since then, IIW already held three very successful IIW Welded Art Photographic exhibitions in 2020, 2021 and 2022 as downloadable digital collections. In 2023, the Welded art Photographic exhibition Digital collection has been linked with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) developed by the United Nations (UN).

UN has 193 countries as members and with the challenges of improving the quality of life in countries, in 2015, world leaders agreed to the implementation of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aimed at low and middle-income countries. IIW has linked its National Welding Capability (NWC) Project and the SDGs so that strategies can be introduced by a country including implementing a Flagship Programme with a single global focus “To Assist the Country to Establish, Sustain and Improve Its National Welding Capability and Progress its UN Sustainable Development Goals”.

Such a Programme may have many initiatives and projects associated with it but all related to the single global focus. As such the IIW 2023 Digital Collection was developed with the cooperation and collaboration of 36 artists and 36 exhibits from 16 countries linking any masterpiece to SDGs . Further information and the full collection are available at http://iiwelding.org/2023-Digitalcollection-

Future IIW Events

IIW is looking forward to gathering the welding, joining and associated processes community together at upcoming Regional and International Congresses and associated events held in cooperation with its partners, and in particular, the 77th IIW Annual Assembly and International Conference on Welding and Joining which will take place from 7th to 12th July 2024 at Rhodos Palace Hotel (Rhodos, GREECE), Europe’s leading destination for business, leisure and entertainment.

(Source: Press Release of International Institute of Welding (IIW))