IGS membership and presidency Francesco Fontana
IGS, an association of major importance to the geosynthetics sector
Since the society’s beginnings the IGS has grown to over 4,000 members including corporate, individual, and student members. With 47 chapters worldwide, it’s easy to be involved with the society by joining a local IGS chapter. Soen is represented in the IGS by Francesco Fontana, General Manager of our brand Manifattura Fontana.
IGS membership
Membership in the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) is a valuable investment for anyone interested in the engineering and geosynthetics industry. In addition to outstanding international representation, the IGS delivers services and ideas to maximize revenues and brand awareness through conferences, education sessions, case studies and other global platforms. The IGS keeps you informed on industry issues and offers you the combined experience of professionals and educators across the world who gladly share their knowledge and expertise of geosynthetics.
Membership in the IGS is primarily organized through national Chapters. Chapter participation allows members to be informed about and participate in, local and regional activities in addition to providing access to the resources of the IGS. (source)
IGS, an association of major importance
Francesco Fontana, General manager of our brand Manifattura Fontana, has been re-elected to the 2020-2024 IGS Council. The International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) is a world association that is dedicated to the scientific and engineering development of geotextiles, geomembranes and related products and technologies. It mostly is a cultural association that works with manufacturers, professionals and universities.
IGS is really important for the geosynthetics sector, as the members fund research on the geosynthetics topic together and as a member, you gain the trust of the international community. “We have, for example, a program that is called ‘educate the educators’, where our ambassadors organise courses about the technology of geosynthetics for university professors.”, Francesco reports. Thanks to this initiative, future engineers learn about the advantages of geosynthetics early in their career.
Francesco : “ I have been a member of IGS for 14 years. I was too engaged with my business before joining the association. If I could go back, I would start earlier, because participation is knowledge and knowledge is everything.”
Apart from the membership of the Italian board, he is also an active member of the IGS sustainability and circularity committee. Francesco comments on the committees: “I am learning a lot and I‘m more and more convinced how important circular economy is and that there is a lot more to it than recycling, and geosynthetics can definitely play an important role in this.”