The Euroclusters projects xBUILD-EU and EuroBoosTex,, the former led by AEI Tèxtils and the latter by ATEVAL, aim to facilitate networking opportunities to improve the resilience of the EU industrial textile ecosystem by strengthening the relationships between clusters. They also aimto foster the innovation capabilities of the textile industry facilitating the adoption of processes and technologies to reinforce the transformation towards a greener and more digital economy. Lastly, their ultimate goal is to foster the upgrading and re-skilling of the textile industry workforce making them competitive in global value chains.
Both projects completed the evaluation of the 62 proposals received during the first call for proposals. In total, 73 SMEs participated and the 28 best projects were selected to be funded with grants of up to €15,000 for 10 Innovate Individual projects (EuroBoosTex), €25,000 for 6 Global projects (xBUILD-EU), €20,000 for 8 Innovate projects (xBUILD-EU) and €50,000 for 4 Green and Digital consortium projects (xBUILD-EU).
Spain was the country with most SMEs funded (16 out of the 32 beneficiaries), followed by Slovenia and Italy (both with 4). In total, xBUILD-EU has awarded 510.000€ and EuroBoosTex 150.000€.
11 members of the AEI Tèxtils have been granted their strategic innovation and/or internationalization projects, in order to increase their competitiveness.
The projects selected within AEI Tèxtils members include: 3 Innovate Individual projects (EuroBoosTex) by Texfire Technical Fabrics, Polisilk and Finish, 4 Global projects (xBUILD-EU) by the companies Hilaturas Arnau, FINSA-Job Group, Rosich y Puigdengolas and Incabo, 2 Innovate projects (xBUILD-EU) by Marina Race, Etisilk and SensingTex and 1 Green and Digital consortium project (xBUILD-EU) by the companies FINSA-Job Group and Maccion.
AEI Tèxtils positively evaluates the implication of the cluster members in the different activities of both projects and their success in the open calls with grants awarded for a total value of 255.000€.
xBUILD-EU and EuroBoosTex are fully aligned with the axes of the cluster strategy, addressing the four main pillars: innovation, competences, internationalization and business development as well as the transversal axes of digitalization and sustainability thanks to the wide variety of activities that will be carried out.
AEI Tèxtils considers these projects as a cornerstone for building resilience in the sector and the expansion of its innovation capacity. Clusters act as a hub and as a collaborative environment to facilitate partnership between enterprises, research institutes, policy makers and other institutions that promote innovation and provide SMEs access to new knowledge competencies, resources and markets.
xBUILD-EU and EuroBoosTex are part of the 6 strategic projects being implemented by the cluster to support competitiveness of its members.
