CONTEXT, the European network of experts on advanced textile materials, led by AEI Tèxtils, organized, on 25th March, the webinar “Funding opportunities and success stories for the development of smart textiles”.
The webinar started with an introduction to CONTEXT, by its Action Chair, Ariadna Detrell, Cluster Manager at AEI Tèxtils.
The second part of the session was dedicated to present different funding programs to support the development of innovative products, including four cascade funding projects and the new EIC Accelerator program, introduced by Bruno Mougin from Techtera.
The European projects offering funding cascade mechanisms for SMEs presented were: GALACTICA, ELIIT, INNO4COV-19 and SMARTEES2.
The first one, GALACTICA, presented by its project coordinator, Josep Casamada, responsible for projects at AEI Tèxtils, has the aim to support new industrial value chains including the textile and aeronautic/aerospace sectors based on advanced manufacturing across the EU.
ELIIT, European light industries innovation and technology project, represented by Korina Mollá, from AITEX, seeks to support textile, clothing, leather and footwear SMEs in enhancing their competitiveness while helping them integrate new technologies in innovative or high added-value products, processes or services.
Izabel Alfany, from LEITAT Technological Center, as project partner, presented INNO4COV-19, a project that has the aim to enable companies and reference laboratories to develop and implement innovative technologies to fight COVID-19.
Finally, SMARTEES2 was introduced by one of its partners, EBN, represented by Florian Sora. SMARTEES2 is aimed at supporting SMEs and Mid-caps in integrating flexible and wearable electronics into novel products/series of products.
In the second part of the webinar, three companies presented their success stories on the development of smart textiles.
First, Marc Ponsa, CEO of POLISILK (member of AEI Tèxtils), showcased its project Smart-Horse-Riding, co-funded by SMARTEES2.
Then, Delphine Vialleton and Marc Piaulet, Innovation Engineer and Sales Director at SATAB, respectively, introduced the electronic narrow fabrics developed by this French company.
Next, Wolfram Hartramph, Engineer at ITP GmbH, presented TEXCOOL. A project developed together with the Catalan company, member of AEI Tèxtils, E.CIMA. TEXCOOL is a textile cooling system based on the Peltier effect.
Finally, Judith Bosch, from the European Textile Technology Platform, as project coordinator, presented a summary of SMART-X, that supports the establishment of a smart textiles manufacturing value chain in Europe through acceleration funding & coaching of SME’s and Start-Ups.
The event was followed by more than 70 attendants.
The recording is available here: Webinar CONTEXT – Funding opportunities – YouTube