The Yoshiaki Arata Award, sponsored by the Japanese Delegation, has been presented annually since 1994. The commemorative medal pays tribute to the outstanding career of Prof. Dr. Yoshiaki Arata, who devoted himself for many years to the development of ultra-high energy density heat sources and their applications to welding, cutting and other thermal materials processing.
He also played an important role in the establishment of modern Welding Engineering, Plasma Engineering, and High Temperature Technology, based on basic physics and materials sciences. For these contributions, he received numerous awards, including the Japan Academy Prize (Japan's highest award), the Arthur L. Schawlow Award of the Laser Institute of America and the IIW's Goldschmidt-Clermont Prize.
He is currently a member of The Japan Academy and several foreign Academies of Science.

Prof. Dr. Yoshiaki Arata was for a long time extremely committed to IIW activities. He was a prominent member of the IIW family and made remarkable contributions to Commission IV ("Power Beam Processes") since its establishment. He also initiated a new IIW Working Unit for Welding Research Strategy (SG-RES) in order to promote international collaboration and interaction, serving as its first Chair from 1981-1986.