IGI was founded in Antwerp, Belgium, with postal code 1975. Rich experience, professional advice and long-term reputation for reliability and integrity make IGI synonymous with reference standards in jewelry industry. As the largest independent laboratory in the world, IGI has developed patented technologies such as laser lettering and darkroom photos, which have been appraised for decades, and initiated and popularized the 3EX cutting evaluation system. For a long time, it has been a global leader and norm-setter in the field of gemology. At first, IGI only did private diamond appraisal for several diamond families in Belgium. Later, some high-quality diamonds were sold to various royal families in Europe, and the name of IGI gradually spread among the royal families. The royal families in Europe, the Middle East and Asia sent some exquisite jewels that were difficult for ordinary appraisers to Belgium for analysis. Because many of these jewels have been inlaid with very complicated crowns, necklaces, rings and so on. IGI has gradually developed from a diamond appraisal institution to a global gem appraisal institution focusing on diamond and high-end jewelry appraisal.
Due to the particularity of serving people, IGI provides gemological materials, and each certificate follows the manual production procedure of luxury goods, in order to ensure that all aspects of quality match the jewelry. Based on the authoritative research in the field of diamond cutting, IGI developed the world's first complete and comprehensive diamond cutting grade map, which became the embryonic form of the evaluation standard of modern diamond cutting system. In 2007, the chief appraiser of IGI was appointed by the Belgian royal family as the diamond consultant of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.