The institute has been established in 1977 through Decree No. 112 /197, under the name Institute of Research and Design for the Waste Waters Treatment – (Romanian Acronym ICPEAR for Institut de Cercetare pentru Epurare Ape Reziduale), under coordination of the Ministry of Chemical Industry, with Headquarters in Bucharest and one branch at Timisoara, afterwards, in 1982, a new second branch was founded in Ramnicu Valcea.

In 1991 the design department has been separated becoming S.C. IPROMED S.A. In those conditions the research department established its own tangible and intangible assets and continued to develop and enlarge its research areas, adding to its technical environmental applied research portfolio besides waste water treatment technologies also a broad range of environmental technical solutions targeting all environmental components: water, air, soil. This way, the expertise area was extended from environmental applications and solutions applied in Chemical Industry to the practical applied research solutions for a large majority of environmental issues generally targeting the industrial sector:

• The waste water treatment processes from other industrial sectors ( ’90)
• Urban waste water (after 1990)
• Air pollution (1995) and soil (1997);
• Assessment of pollution state, of environmental impact and risk induced by industrial activities (1998);
• The design and implementation of the management systems for Quality and Environment (2000);
• Support for the introductions of sustainable development principles at organizations: analyses of the technological processes and cleaner production, eco-efficiency, evaluation and records of environmental costs, introduction of elements of sustainable development in defining the strategic objectives for the development of industrial units ( after 2000);
• Staff formation and continuous development courses (after 1990), competencies evaluation in the environmental field (starting with 2010).

The institute had received the positive recommendation for becoming national institute after an external audit required by Research Ministry performed in 1995 for some research institutes from Romania. The recommendations have taken into account the uniqueness of the institute activity at the national level and the obtained results, the multi-disciplinary approaches, prompt and adequate actions to the environmental needs of the economic organizations.

In the year 1999 ICPEAR has been transformed through accreditation in National Institute for Research and Development for Industrial Ecology – INCD ECOIND under the authority of the Ministry of Industry and Resources (present Ministry of Economy), according to the provisions of HG no. 261/1999 and of Regulation of the Organization and Functioning approved through HG no. 961/2005.

From start (1977) and until present, the institute has continuously evolved, becoming an institute for research dedicated for the design of installations (plans) and elaboration of waste water treatment technologies from chemical industry and petrochemical sector (ICPEAR – the former name) into a national institute for research and development, with a global approach of all environmental aspects in the field of industrial ecology, renowned at the national level and with a presence increasingly active in international partnerships.
INCD ECOIND has been re-certificated as national institute in 2001 and in 2008 by the Ministry of Education and Research, respectively by the National Authority for Scientific Research.

In the 2009-2012 period, through the implementation of POS CCE 115/2600 co-financed through Regional Development European Found, a new research infrastructure has been realized through the construction of a new headquarters with all necessary utilities for the development of a performant research activity. Through the same project the modern equipments entered into institute patrimony and that facilitated the diversification of the environmental research activities and services, modernization of the existent laboratories and the development of the new ones. The equipment of the institute with new laboratory equipment and modern installations also for field experiments allowed the development of competitive research at the qualitative level of reference laboratories in the field.

In 2013 (through H.G. no. 185/2013, with the next modifications/and updates), INCD-ECOIND has been passed from the coordination of Ministry of Economy to the coordination of Ministry of National Education – the National Agency for Research Development and Innovation.

In the period 08.08.2014-31.12.2015 the project no. 1881/48693 “The Centre of Interdisciplinary Advanced Research for the Environment and Industry – MEDIND” co-financed through the European Fund for Regional Development within the Operational Sectoral Program “ Increase of Economic Competitivity – Investments for your future” has been implemented. The project objective was the modernization and extension of INCD-ECOIND infrastructure through the creation of a Interdisciplinary Advanced Research Centre for the development /extension of some new directions aimed for covering a large connected spectrum activities of industrial ecology, in the areas of: molecular biology, genetics and electronic microscopy; biological analyses and ecotoxicological studies; evaluation of the in-door air quality and of the smell level through dynamic olphactometry; complete characterization of industrial waste and sludges – areas of activities of great present impact, that have been not yet approach at all or have been approached in a manner that supports improvements at the national level, but in accordance with the research trends for the environment on the European and international plan. Through the project, besides the development of the existent infrastructure, five new laboratories for advanced research have been created, anticipating the new trends in research at the European and worldwide level in the environmental protection area. Thus MEDIND projects succeeded:

• The creation of five new laboratories of advanced research
  • Molecular Biology Laboratory (Romanian Acronym LBM from Laborator de Biologie Moleculara);
  • Electronic and Correlative Microscopy Laboratory (Romanian Acronym LME from Laborator de Microscopie Electronica)
  • Laboratory for Industrial Waste sampling preparation/pretreatment (Romanian Acronym from Laborator Pregatire/Pretratare Deseuri Industriale (LPDI);
  • Laboratory for Indoor Air Quality Assessments ( Romanian Acronym LAI from Laborator Evaluare Calitate Aer Interior) ;
  • Laboratory of Dynamic Olphactometry ( Romaian Acronym LOD from Laborator de Olfactometrie Dinamica )

• Modernization of four research and development existent laboratories
  • Environmental Judiciary Analysis Laboratory (JUDMED);
  • Laboratory for Pollution Control Soil-Waste;
  • Biotests Laboratory – Biological Analyses (B);
  • Laboratory for Bacteriological Control (LBC);