Brussesls hosted the European Textiles conference (going digital, going high-tech) on October 12 and 13, which was attended by 150 participants from 24 countries attended the two day event. The key highlight of the event, organised by the European Technology Platform for the Future of Textiles and Clothing (Textile ETP), was the unveiling of the Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA).
The SIRA outlines the major innovation themes and research priorities which are expected to drive and shape the future of the textile and clothing sector in Europe in the coming decade. It has been jointly developed by over 100 textile industry, technology and research experts from across Europe.
The strong presence of the textile machinery sector through companies such as Brückner, Lindauer Dornier and Picanol underlined the importance of a close collaboration between world-leading Europe-based technology developers and their local lead industry customers to exploit advantages arising from greater resource efficiency, digitisation and new material processing. The conference also featured a number of new companies that exploit research know-how and advanced technologies for revolutionary textile based products for the health, construction, energy protection or outdoor markets.