The second virtual hackathon organized by DESTEX consortium was held on 11th and 12th of March.
The hackathon addressed the challenge launched by the company C.P. Aluart, member of AEI TÈXTILS, about developing the firefighter protective clothing for 2030.
Firefighting requires comfortable clothing to increase performance and prevent heat exhaustion.
Current firefighting protective garments rely on external layers for fire and heat prevention based on high performance materials. However, those same products are bulky and limit mobility of firefighters. In addition, those layers have poor breathability and may increase the heat fatigue for the firefighter.
The challenge aimed at developing new concepts and ideas for wearing future firefighters taking state-of-the-art technologies and textile materials with innovative designs to keep firefighters comfortable while protected and safe.
C.P. Aluart is a company founded in 1993, specialized in the manufacture of fabrics and personal protective clothing using circular knitting technology.
The four universities of DESTEX (LCI, POLIMI, DSKD and UB) recruited students to participate in this second hackathon. In total, 10 students participated in 3 teams to complete the challenge. They worked remotely to develop and deliver a solution within 24 hours.
The different developed solutions were presented on the second day of the hackathon where the jury selected the best concept. The winning team was awarded a free-pass to the DESTEX summer school that will be held in Milan on June 2021.
According to Pol Aluart, co-owner of the company, the participation in this kind of activities provides an added value not only to the company, which obtains an external vision and the generation of new ideas for its business and products, but also for the students from the participating universities, which have the opportunity to apply the acquired knowledge in real cases.
In the first hackathon, held on January 28th and 29, the challenge for students was launched by the company FINSA, also a member of the cluster.
