San Diego, CA – According to Stephen M. Warner, president and CEO of the Industrial Fabrics Association International, “The rate of change and innovation in the technical textiles industry is outpacing the consumer awareness of applications, as well as the current standards and text procedures. There is a critical need for more substantive information exchange platforms that discuss the blending of technical textiles with other industry and disciplines such as medicine, electronics and construction.
“Thus, we are pleased to announce we will continue to develop these platforms, locating Advanced Textiles ’10, 16-17 June 2010 in Paris. Based on the endorsement of an international audience and support from many prestigious European organizations for our first two conferences in Berlin and Brussels, we are confident the annual Advanced Textiles conference is viewed as the leading exchange platform for the technical textile industry.”
Warner was on hand at a press conference on September 23 to announce the third of these specialized conferences which promote international cooperation and cross-sectoral partnership between the U.S. and European technical textiles industry-which can include everything from nanotechnology, e-textiles, nonwovens, geosynthetics and many high-performance applications within biomedicine, green building and sustainable design, aerospace, automotive, sports apparel, military, safety, architectural shade systems, graphics and signage.
Further, Warner announced Clubtex, the leading technical textile association in France, will be the key supporting organization of Advanced Textiles ’10. “We are extremely pleased to have their support.”
According to Warner, “In these difficult times in the world economy we want to back up our industry and pave the way for new business opportunities by fostering targeted networking in professional application communities.” The uniquely open conference allows the top experts from different disciplines-both corporate and academic–to engage in lively exchanges and brainstorming, as well as identifying new business synergies, making the event very worthwhile in identifying diverse new revenue-driving business partnerships.
Warner also announced the keynote speaker for the event will be distinguished European executive Frederique Mutel, General Manager, JEC, who will speak on the world markets of composites.
WHAT TEXTILE EXPERTS ARE SAYING
The Germany based agency IHOFMANN, which specializes in technical textiles and building up strategic alliances is co-organizer, developing the concept and managing the conference. Dr. Isa Hofmann, CEO IHOFMANN: “The concept is to provide decision makers in the complex value chain of technical textiles the occasion to meet on a professional platform, getting inspiration, face-to-face contacts and networking opportunities in an inspiring ambiance. With Advanced Textiles ’10 we want to contribute to initiate new cross-sector innovation projects and comfort our industry to bank on the power of innovation.”
Sophie Bengyel, MarketingTextiles Europe, AIM – Textiles & Leather, Dow Corning Europe S.A., Belgium “AT 09 in Brussels gave me a great overview of the latest state-of-the-art and progress in technical textiles technologies. I met some of the key market players from our field of the industry. The networking opportunities were excellent and I am still following up with a couple of projects resulting from the different lectures. The conference was educational and inspiring – in any case worthwhile attending.”
Werner Zirnzak, Deputy Managing Director of the German association IVGT and Secretary of the ETT CLUB (European technical textiles club): “The first conference in Berlin was already excellent, but this second edition of AT 09 in Brussels was hard to top. The lectures were extremely interesting, unveiling most recent technologies. I was impressed that the organizers were able to continue with the same number of attendees in these difficult economic circumstances. The number of US entrepreneurs had noticeably increased. Kudos!”
Friedrich Weninger, member of the board of management of the LENZING group: “I had a really great experience during the two days conference in Berlin. This was one of the events that you keep in mind: numerous interesting talks and contacts and among the audience an excellent blend of technical experts, business executives and decision makers from the political field. It was definitively worth the trip and time effort.
Karl Landl, project coordinator technical textiles, Lindauer Dornier GmbH, Lindau, Germany: “The Advanced Textiles 08 in Berlin was a great event. As a textile machinery producer I met several European clients from the textile chain and during the two days we could swap ideas, talk about running projects and intensify relationships. I appreciated the broader frame of the conference, since during the year we have a lot of quite specialized events to attend. AT 08 gave me a wonderful opportunity not to be restricted to my operational issues.”
Alexander Firmian, Sales Manager Transfertex GmbH & Co Thermodruck KG, Germany, one of the sponsors of AT ’09 representing the company with a tabletop exhibit: “The personal enrichment I received through the conference was immense, an extremely interesting program and fascinating people. This conference really broadens your intellectual horizon and that’s what we all need to achieve a competitive edge in our business. We at Transfertex are ready for new applications of our rotogravure printing technique. We are constantly diversifying into new technical areas and we will now evaluate the technical feasibility for the new application areas that we have discovered.”
