Within the field of medical, biological and clinical engineering IFMBE's aims are to encourage research and the application of knowledge, and to disseminate information and promote collaboration.

At that time there were few national biomedical engineering societies and workers in the discipline joined as Associates of the Federation.

During the first ten years of its existence, clinical engineering became a viable subdiscipline with an increasing number of members employed in the health care area.

The IFMBE News Magazine, published electronically with Springer, documents developments in biomedical engineering.

The Congresses are scheduled on a three-year basis and aligned with Federation's General Assembly meeting at which elections are held.