It is a collaborative project that was initiated at the 1982 G7 Economic Summit in Versailles to develop and promote standards for the characterisation of advanced materials, including surfaces, interfaces, thin films, and nanostructures.

The proposals for cooperation came from the French President François Mitterrand, which were presented in a lengthy speech highlighting the necessity of creating a new international division of labour for technology.

He argued that the massive cost of experimental facilities in areas such as high-energy physics and fusion research made international collaboration desirable.

[3] "The single most important outcome [of the initiative] is that science and technology have been discussed at two successive summits by the heads of state," says Robin Nicholson, chief scientific adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

"[3] The French, under the guidance of President Mitterrand's personal adviser, Jacques Attali, who chaired the Versailles working group, provided a more pragmatic approach to the working groups to bridge the political gap between Mitterrand's interventionist position, broadly supported by Japan and Italy, and the United States' free-trade position, adopted by West Germany and the United Kingdom.

Nicholson presented the proposal at IUVSTA meeting in Brighton, UK, in 1982, where it was well-received and subsequently led to the establishment of the VAMAS project.

The proposal was a result of a collaboration between the National Physical Laboratory and the UK Department of Trade and Industry, and it received significant support from the international scientific community.

[citation needed] Then, the proposal was put forward by Nicholson (Government Chief Scientist) to Prime Minister Thatcher to consider on 8 October 1982.

[6] VAMAS founding countries are (1982-1983): Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, USA, and European Economic Community.

Developing international standards for new materials effectively removes technical barriers to trade and promotes global information circulation and data sharing.

[24] Using interlaboratory studies, this will lead to new improved test procedures, reference materials and data, or algorithms and software with the researchers being drawn from VAMAS and non-VAMAS countries.

[28] In addition to its efforts to establish materials characterisation standards, the VAMAS project has also contributed to the development of international standards for other areas of materials science, such as mechanical testing,[14] thermal analysis,[31] powder diffraction,[32] X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS),[33] Auger electron spectroscopy (AES),[34] and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS).

The Steering Committee, which includes representatives from Member States and the European Commission, has approves the launch of several sector working parties to promote the use of advanced materials in high-technology products and encourage international trade.

[41] International Interlaboratory Comparison is a method of ensuring the accuracy and reliability of testing results by comparing the measurements made by different laboratories worldwide.