WCA November 2010

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Industry news
Wire & Cable ASIA – November/December 2010 14
New IWCS scholarships
The International Wire and Cable Symposium Inc (IWCS)
has announced the establishment of endowments to
support future scholarships at two strategic universities.
The endowments will, eventually, support the granting of
two annual scholarships, tentatively set at $3,000 each,
at each of the institutions. While the endowment funds
are building, the IWCS also established two current
scholarships at each institution to the value of $3,000 each
to be awarded this year.
The scholarship awards, both current and from the
endowment, will be made by the institutions to students in
their second, third or fourth years of studies in an
engineering curriculum. IWCS will have the final approval of
any proposed awards.
The endowments have been established at the University of
Massachusetts-Lowell for students in that school’s
Department of Plastics Engineering, and at the University of
North Carolina-Charlotte in the William States Lee College
of Engineering. The universities are both located within
close proximity to the recent and planned IWCS Conference
venues of Providence, Rhode Island and Charlotte, North
Carolina.
International Wire and Cable Symposium Inc – USA
Fax: +1 732 389 0991
Website:
Investment urged to tackle
counterfeit cables
The International Authentication Association (IAA) is urging
cable manufacturers to make further investment in
anti-counterfeiting strategies and technologies, and not to
reduce their efforts in an attempt to save costs during the
current tough trading conditions. The chairman of the IAA
was commenting on the British Cables Association initiative
to tackle the problem of counterfeit cables.
The Approved Cables Initiative (ACI) aims to address the
issue of unsafe, non-approved and counterfeit cables from
the UK market. It has the backing of various industry bodies
including the British Approvals Service for Cables (BASEC),
the Electrical Distributors Association (EDA), Electrical
Contractors Association (ECA), Electrical Safety Council
and the NICEIC Group.
The IAA believes that many dangerous cables are entering
the UK via organised importers who are not complying with
their legal duties under UK regulations.
The UK market for electrical cables and systems has an
approximate value of £2bn. It is estimated that up to 20%
of cable products in the cable systems supply chain are
unsafe, non-approved or counterfeit.
International Authentication Association (IAA) – UK
Fax: +44 1932 780 790
Email:
Website: