IAKS is the leading global non-profit organisation for professionals from the sport, leisure and recreation facilities industry which has, since 1965, provided international networking opportunities for the exchange of planning, design and operational expertise.

With facilities of any kind at the core of its activities, from small grassroot neighbourhood facilites through to large  scale global stadiums, over its 55 year history IAKS has been sharing insights and facilitating management, planning and architectural design excellence for facilities to the world.

With its mission, ‘Facilitating an Active World‘, IAKS collaborates with international organisations to promote active and meaningful lifestyles and transform communities and urban areas into places of active living. Championing sustainable and high-quality indoor and outdoor facilities it advances gobal best practice guidelines to ensure built facilities are fully inclusive, universally accessible and socially relevant.

Given the global scale of the leisure industry, many sectors tend to look to the USA for their leads and international learnings, while local government has traditionally looked to the United Kingdom. However, despite linguistic differences, Europe’s industry excellence is increasingly recognised as a source from which Australian and New Zealand industry professionals can learn.