About ISPIM


ISPIM has its origins in an initiative taken by Prof. Knut Holt at the University of Trondheim in 1973. He started and organised a programme of comparative cross cultural studies on Needs Assessment and Information Behaviour: the NAIB Program. The objective was to present an array of tools, as well as guidelines for their practical application for the assessment of user needs in the product innovation processes. During the NAIB Project an international group formally founded ISPIM in Trondheim, Norway in June 1983. Since then, ISPIM has succeeded in developing a strong international network, leading to professional cooperation across nations and cultures.

The history of the first 13 years of ISPIM can be downloaded here.

ISPIM Presidents/Executive Directors

Iain Bitran United Kingdom 2003 - present (Executive Director from 2008)
Umberto Del Canuto Italy 2001 - 2003
Ferdinando Chiaromonte Italy 1997 - 2001
Arie Nagel Netherlands 1993 - 1997
Jens Arleth Denmark 1989 - 1993
Villko Virkkala Finland 1985 - 1989
Knut Holt Norway 1981 - 1985

Past ISPIM Events

Collaborative Research Projects

ISPIM is involved in participating in or promoting research projects in the field of innovation management. If you would like to contact ISPIM with regard to participation in, or promotion of, a project, please contact info@ispim.org. Currently ISPIM is a partner in the EU-funded SM-BIO-POWER project (see www.smbiopower.eu).


Publications

ISPIM News: A quarterly news digest of events, member communications and society news.

Publication of Conference/Symposium Proceedings: The proceedings of each conference/symposium are published on CD with an ISBN number and are available to all delegates. An online version is available to all ISPIM members in the members section of the website.


Professional Cooperation

ISPIM is strongly committed to cooperating with synergistic associations worldwide. These links range from hosting joint events and collaboration on research projects to networking and promotion of events. A list of partner associations and organisations can be found on our links page.