CHENNAI : The Ifra-RIND Materials Testing and Research Centre for testing newsprint and newsink was inaugurated here on Monday by Reiner Mittelbach, CEO of IFRA, the Darmstradt (Germany) — headquartered global association for the newspaper industry.

Located on the premises of RIND (Research Institute for Newspaper Development) at Taramani, the centre has testing gear from the Netherlands, Germany and the USA. It will offer testing service for both member of Ifra-RIND and non-members on parameters relating to printing paper and printing inks. This will extend the availability and gamut of testing services for the industry, which have so far been sourced from private companies and restricted by and large to grammage.

The Ifra-RIND testing center is supported by Ananda Bazar Patrika, Deccan Herald, Dinamalar, Malayala Manorama, Manipal Media Network, Mathrubhumi, The Hindu, DIC Inks and Micro Inks. It also has plans to undertake research on standardising newspaper consumables and trends in Indian newspaper (including magazines).

Dr. Mittelbach said Ifra's future projects for India included the launch of a "flashlight report" service, which would enable the publishing industry worldwide to have a technical assessment of new technologies within a short time after the technologies were unveiled. "This will help user-industries avoid disappointing market performance of new technologies whose announcements tend to be hyped," he said.

The Ifra-RIND Material Testing and Research Centre, he said would recruit experienced staff from within the industry who had good writing skills. IFRA would hold its first ever Expo outside Europe in Chennai from September 4-7. It was also working on its own search engine for newspaper-related technologies which might be launched in a few months.

Dr. Reiner said the services of IFRA's India office (operating as a company, Ifra India Private Ltd) established more than a decade ago had been globally recognised.

IFRA's business arm spent annually Euro 1.45 million on research and development and another Euro 3.5 million on dissemination of information, he said.

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