The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) is the premier advocacy and policy organization for the world's leading innovation companies. We have earned the trust of the world's most recognized technology brands to solve their most complex policy challenges.
Our History Subsection
Our History
Founded in 1916, ITI has evolved with our industry.
1916
1929
The first organizational meeting of the Accredited Standards Committee X3, Information Technology, which was established as a forum of information technology developers under American National Standards Institute (ANSI) procedures. BEMA (now ITI) took the Secretariat responsibility. The forum was later renamed InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) and continues to be housed with ITI.
1961
The Institute was reorganized to cope more effectively with the issues confronting a rapidly changing and expanding ICT industry, and it became known as the Business Equipment Manufacturers Association (BEMA).
1961
BEMA became the Computer and Business Equipment Manufacturers Association (CBEMA). For the next two decades, the association's value to member companies was manifest in numerous regulatory and legislative accomplishments, in successful efforts to build a network with counterparts in other nations, and in its ability to sustain a voluntary industry standards programs in the U.S. and abroad.
1973
CBEMA again reorganized and was renamed the Information Technology Industry Council or ITI. The new name better reflected the dynamic ICT industry as it is today -- consisting of manufacturers and suppliers of hardware, ICT services and software.
1994
ITI issues its first High Tech Voting Guide, which evaluates House and Senate votes on key technology issues as identified by its members at the end of each Congress. It was the first technology industry scorecard of congressional votes and appears among the interest group ratings in National Journal's Almanac of American Politics.
1998
ITI member companies provided support to help the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation launch itself as an independent nonprofit, non-partisan research and educational institute—a think tank—whose mission is to formulate, evaluate, and promote policy solutions to advance technological innovation and boost productivity to spur growth, opportunity, and progress.
2006
The Environmental Leadership Council joins ITI and creates ITI's Environment & Sustainability Division. The ELC is the preeminent industry voice for domestic advocacy and compliance assistance in the areas of electronics recycling, environmentally preferable purchasing and materials selection.
2007
Today, ITI represents companies on the cutting edge of technology, and our mission is the same as that of our founders in 1916 -- to promote the global competitiveness of our member companies through tech friendly public policy.