Established in 1960 under the auspices of UNESCO (as a result of the first World Computer Congress held in Paris in 1959), the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) is an umbrella organization for national societies working in the field of information technology. It is a non-governmental, non-profit organization. Its members represent IT organizations from 56 countries or regions, covering all 5 continents with a total membership of over half a million.