In our previous blog post, you already read that we have been IREB/CPRE Platinum certified since January 2026. Today, we want to delve deeper into the topic and report on the origins of the IREB (International Requirements Engineering Board).

The IREB was born out of the vision of our founder Karl Schott to define requirements engineering (RE) as an independent discipline that is more uniform, comparable, and professional worldwide. His goal was to avoid misunderstandings, change requests, delays, and unplanned additional costs in projects.

Starting point: Why was the IREB needed?

In the early 2000s, requirements engineering was recognized as a success factor in projects, but:

– there was no internationally standardized curriculum for it
– training was highly heterogeneous (depending on the company, university, trainer, method)
– many projects suffered from unclear, contradictory, or poorly coordinated requirements
– and, in addition, there was no comparable proof of competence for RE expertise

In practice, this led to a need for standardization, as identified by our CEO Karl Schott. He defined the minimum requirements for “good” requirements engineering, regardless of whether you work in an agile, classic, or hybrid environment. Karl Schott founded the D-A-CH Board in 2003 with the aim of introducing a uniform standard in German-speaking countries.

Foundation: How was the IREB established?

Based on the D-A-CH Board, which played a leading role, the IREB was founded several years later as an internationally oriented, independent organization. Since day one, Spirit in Projects has been closely associated with what for many organizations is still the gateway to professional requirements engineering: IREB® certification.

a neutral body that coordinates content,
defines publicly accessible basic knowledge (syllabus)
and awards certifications based on this

What happened next?

As the IREB proved so popular, it was further internationalized and disseminated. An internationally standardized syllabus and exam questions were developed and rolled out in international training and examination networks. Since then, the IREB has been regarded by many companies as the qualification standard for business analysts, requirements engineers, product owners, and others.

As Austria’s leading IREB partner, we are very proud to offer RE courses. You can find our current courses at: https://spiritinprojects.com/requirements-engineer/