Next week IPMA celebrates its 30^th World Congress in Astana, Kazakhstan. The IPMA World Congress has a long tradition and  respected recognition as a leading conference from the field of projects, programs, portfolios and their management with the gathering of the world’s leading practitioners and managers, representatives of global companies as well as academic staff, students and young people. The first IPMA World Congress was held in Vienna, in 1967. At that time IPMA was still called “Internet”, so International network meetings were every second or third year.

The IPMA Congress has large global and regional impact and importance in the development of trends and practices of project management, exchange of experience and information, support of regional and local development, as well as arranging plans for future initiatives. At the same time Congress is a great opportunity and encouragement for networking opportunities, celebrations, congratulations and the development of the profession. One example for the importance of the World Congress was stated by Prof. Roland Gareis, who organised the World Congress during 1990 in Vienna: “… the main attraction was the program theme. It was the start of the “Management by Projects” approach, which looked at project management from a more holistic point of view. As head of the organising committee I could  not only lever the world congress to a new stage, but also tried to contribute to the further development of the discipline.”

This year´s IPMA World Congress will happen between 5^th and 7^th of September in Astana, Kazakhstan. The theme is “BREAKTHROUGH COMPETENCES FOR MANAGING CHANGE”, picking up another significant paradigm shift that´s shaping our discipline. Three inspiring days with the most comprehensive program of best practices, new insights and academic findings combined with World Class PM awards, book launches, networking opportunities, site visits, the renowned IPMA Award Gala, social events and more. In short, the place to be for ambitious managers, academics, researchers and other professionals in the field of project, program and portfolio management! Kazakhstan Project Management Association and Nursultan Nazarbayev Educational Foundation act as the organizers of this Congress. Nazarbayev University acts as a the General partner of the Congress. The Ministry for Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Akimat of Astana serve as the Coordinators for the Congress organization. Several hundred national and foreign participants from over 60 countries plan to take part in the Congress. In the light of the future work Kazakhstan is given a unique opportunity to obtain and study the world’s best practices of project management application in various fields of human activity and submit the best Kazakh projects to the world project management community.

The next IPMA World Congress is being planned for 2019 to happen in Mexico.