Seventeen students signed up for the first woodworking technology course to be held at the new Advanced Woodworking Training Centre in Bangalore, India.

The centre has been set up in the local Institute of Wood Science and Technology (IWST) premises and is a joint venture between IWST, Acimall (the Italian woodworking machinery and tools manufacturers’ association) and Ice, the Italian Foreign Trade Institute.

The courses are organised in three different modules, each lasting two working weeks. The first module is dedicated to “woodworking basics”, the second to “basic mechanical machining” and the third to “advanced mechanical machining”.

The organisers say around 700 people a year will benefit from the opportunity.

Machines and materials for the initiative were offered by 26 Italian companies who provided equipment to process both solid wood and panels.