Indian Rubber Institute (IRI) will launch a facility in Mysuru to enhance its activities and impart knowledge, as well as support the rubber industry, particularly small and medium scale, and extend on-the-job training to the rubber sector.

Rubber Technology for Education, Training, Testing and Skill Development on Rubber will be located at JSS Technical Institutions' campus (SJCE campus). It will be inaugurated by Suttur Mutt seer Shivarathri Deshikendra Swami and Raghupati Singhania, chairman and managing director of JK Tyres and Industries, will attend. The centre will be the nodal centre for polymer science and rubber technology training and skill development in India, particularly southern India. The centre has an auditorium with a seating capacity of 225, two training classrooms, a digital library and a communication centre, said S Vasudeva Rao, advisor, IRI. "It will have laboratories for on-the-job training, such as a rubber processing lab, physical testing laboratory, chemical testing laboratory, analytical and characterisation laboratory, rubber product failure analysis lab, rheology lab, reverse engineering facility, tyre testing lab., including provision of a data analytics laboratory. We have qualified faculty, mostly from the tyre and rubber industries, for training different job roles in the rubber sector (tyre/non-tyre, including latex rubber goods)", he said.