Founded in 1974 by the initiative of nineteen Nations, the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) which aims are: - to encourage the use of the subsurface for the benefit of public, environment and sustainable development and - to promote advances in planning, design, construction, maintenance and safety of tunnels and underground space, by bringing together information thereon and by studying questions related thereto. To reach its objectives, ITA has set up international working groups (WG) to study and report on specific topics. To date, 15 working groups are active. The association is also composed of 4 committees: - ITA-COSUF, Committee on Operational Safety in Underground Facilities whith the cooperation of the World Road Association PIARC and the major European fire research organizations. - ITA-CET, Committee on Education & Training, nicknamed "University Network" - ITA-CUS, Committee on Underground Space - ITA-tech, Committee on New Technologies ITA has also another group called Young Members Group. The main goal of this group is to be technical network platform for Young professionals & students in the tunnelling & underground space industry. Presently, ITA gathers 78 member nations and 266 corporate or individual affiliate members.