The International Professional Practice Partnership (IP3) was formed by the International Federation for Information processing (IFIP) in 2007 to fulfill the objective of creating a global ICT profession. This start of this programme were first presented at WCC 2008 in Milan and since then major advances have taken place - both in the collective understanding of the endeavour and also measured by actual achievements. This paper will contextualise the progress of IP3 by examining: why an ICT profession is needed and why it should be on a global basis; and the progress made by IP3 in establishing a global ICT profession.