The International Institute for the Science of Sintering (IISS) was established in 1968 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, today the Republic of Serbia. It began as the International Team for Studying Sintering after the great initiative of late academician, Momcilo M. Ristic, who was its long-term General Secretary and President. Since 1973, the Team has changed its name to IISS and become an umbrella of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts as well as other eminent institutions from membership countries. The IISS has thus far organized ten international conferences on sintering (World Round Table Conferences on Sintering, WRTCS): Herceg Novi, Yugoslavia, 1969, 1971, and 1973; Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, 1977; Portoroz, Yugoslavia, 1981; Herceg Novi, Yugoslavia, 1985 and 1989; and Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1998 and 2002. Since 1975, the IISS has organized seven International Topical Simposia on Sintering: Herceg Novi, Yugoslavia, 1975; Warsaw, Poland, 1979; New Delhi, India 1983; Tokyo, Japan, 1987; Vancouver, Canada, 1991; Haikou, P.R. China, 1995; and New Delhi, India, in 2000. After the final WRTCS was held in Belgrade in 2002, IISS activity has drastically decreased.
With this Conference, we wish to re-establish the activity of the Institute, which had the important role in bringing scientists together from this field worldwide, having in mind that at the time, our country was the rare meeting place for the scientists from the East and scientists from the West.
