The realisation of the lack of quality independent consumer test and evaluation programmes available to facilitate consumers in search of high-quality products and services on the market marks the beginnings of ICERTIAS in early 2008.
In collaboration with the renowned international research house GfK and with partner support from the leading international consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), after two years of intensive work and development, 2010 marks the launch of the pioneering research and certification project Best Buy Award.
With the increase in demand and the subsequent need to expand the international Best Buy Award certification project, in 2011 in Switzerland, an independent company is established and quickly blossoms into “ICERTIAS – International Certification Association GmbH”, how ICERTIAS today is officially registered in the Commercial Register of the Canton of Zurich.
Because of the overwhelming success from the onset, we soon launch additional research and certification projects QUDAL – QUality meDAL and ICERTIAS Customers’ Friend. Thanks to innovative research methodologies, reliability, uncompromising principles in certification and a focus on precision and highly transparent operations, our organisation and certificates rapidly expand internationally.
In just a few years, ICERTIAS certificates have become readily accepted by consumers and the business community in markets worldwide, and today, we are present on five continents in over 40 countries.
ICERTIAS is now globally accepted as a representative voice of the consumer.
During the certification process ICERTIAS intensively “listens” to the experience and opinion of consumers, but also consults with other respectable governmental and non-governmental organisations, especially consumer associations — all with the goal of illuminating those companies, products and services on the market offering consumers the most for their money.
First ideas, research and early development
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN begins proton beam tests
Falcon 1 Flight 4 was the first successful orbital launch of any privately funded and developed, liquid-propelled carrier rocket, the SpaceX Falcon 1
The Bitcoin is first proposed in a mailing posted to The Cryptography Mailing by a developer under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto
Best Buy Award certification project introduction
American researchers led by Craig Venter announce the creation of a synthetic living cell, with an entirely artificial genome
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveals potential sites for the search for fossilised remains on the surface of Mars
The Swiss Solar Impulse aircraft performs the first ever 24-hour non-stop flight powered purely by solar energy
ICERTIAS organisation is founded in Zurich, Switzerland
Quantum computer on a single CPU
Particles faster than light measured
World’s first Malaria vaccine developed
ICERTIAS is present with its market research in 10 European countries
CERN: discovery of the Higgs boson
NASA: humankind goes interstellar
Making organs from STEM cells
First ICERTIAS market research in Africa and New Zealand
The Rosetta mission lands on a comet
Solar panels approach 40% efficiency
Harvard: first ever direct evidence of the Big Bang
First ICERTIAS market research in Asia and America
Dr. Garth Webb: bionic lens development
First man-made leaf
Duke University: first laboratory grown human muscle
ICERTIAS is present with its market research in more than 40 countries worldwide
MIT: pulling water out of thin air
Harvard University: turning hydrogen into metal
First practical blueprint for how to build a quantum computer