The Institute of Textile Technology at RWTH Aachen University (ITA) has joined hands with its Korean partners, the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH) and the Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) to launch a Dream2Lab2Fab research centre in cooperation. The goal of this partnership is to realise the serial production of intelligent textiles in cooperation with small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) from both countries.
ITA, as part of RWTH Aachen University, stands for the automated textile production technology, which is being advanced at the Aachen research centre. The Korean partners bring in their knowhow in textile materials, consumer electronics and digitalisation and are setting up a new centre in Korea in the first half of 2017.
According to the market forecasts, the fabric segment of smart textiles is expected to be on the order of about $12 billion in 2020, with a growth rate of about 20 per cent. This is a huge potential for medium-sized companies from both countries to develop new business models and create new jobs. For this purpose, approximately EUR 20 million will be invested in research centres in both Germany and Korea. The cooperation will be expanded by further bilateral research projects and industrial cooperation.