The Metropolis International Institute (MII) was established by the City of Montreal in 1996 as a capacity-building tool for local and regional authorities and to respond to the demands of Metropolis members. It had a network of three ‘antennas’: Seoul, Mashhad, and Cairo.

In 2011, the City of Montreal decided to pass the baton to another member city and one year later, the Board of Directors approved to move the Metropolis International Training Institute (MITI) Headquarters to Seoul.