ADDTEX – Advancing industrial digital and green innovations in the advanced textile industry through innovation in learning and training

Program: Erasmus+

Project Coordinator: Marta Casadesús / mcasadesus@textils.cat

Participation of AEI TÈXTILS: Coordinator. Consortium composed by 12 partners: AEI Tèxtils, CLUTEX, CITEVE, IVGT, TITERA, UPC, UB, TUS, PIN, CRE.THI.DEV, CIAPE and INCDTP.

Start date: July 2022

End date: June 2025

Objectives:

ADDTEX project aims to bring together enterprises, clusters, higher education providers (HEI) and vocational education and training providers (VET) from the technical textiles sector to work together in partnership, cooperating and fostering innovation and digital and green skills as a common goal. These skills are essential for the future of European socioeconomic textile environment and therefore need to be disseminated among the main players in the chain, from students to companies, creating an upskilling flow of knowledge.

More information: https://www.addtex.eu/

Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

The ZeroF project funded by the EU and SERI, will develop safe and sustainable coating alternatives to replace PFAS compounds in food packaging and upholstery textile value chains.

PFAS: A threat to our environment & health

PFAS (Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances) are a class of chemicals that have gained widespread attention due to their presence in our environment and potential health impacts. PFAS are found in everyday products, including non-stick cookware, food packaging, textiles and firefighting foam. These substances are incredibly persistent, meaning they do not break down and can accumulate in the environment and our bodies over time.

The European Union has classified PFAS as substances of very high concern (SVHC) and is in the process of restricting certain PFAS through a REACH restriction planned for 2023. In addition, the European Commission has committed to a complete phase-out of PFASs in the long term. However, despite the potential health and environmental risks, industry and consumers are reluctant to switch to non-fluorinated products due to the lack of alternatives that offer comparable performance and cost.

Eliminating PFAS: The ZeroF project

ZeroF aims to prevent further PFAS pollution by developing new coating technologies for food packaging and upholstery textiles. The goal is to replace PFAS with non-toxic compounds and renewable feedstock while ensuring comparable performance and cost. The material design will be guided by a Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design framework. Analyses, such as life cycle analysis, life cycle costs, and environmental footprint assessment, will help reduce the environmental impact by over 25%.

The project partners will identify incentives and barriers to facilitate the introduction of PFAS-free coating materials and develop a certification and regulatory roadmap to anticipate future requirements. Ultimately, the ZeroF project aims to provide a viable alternative to PFAS, address industry and consumer hesitancy to switch to PFAS-free products and contribute to the phase-out of PFAS.

More information: https://www.zerof.eu/ 

xBUILD-EU – Cross-fertilization of industrial ecosystems in textile manufacturing and construction leveraging digital and advanced technologies to build up green and digital resilience in Europe

Program: SMP

Project Coordinator: Josep Casamada / fstp@textils.cat

Participation of AEI TÈXTILS: Coordinator. Consortium composed by 5 partners: ATEVAL, Portuguese Textile Cluster (CITEVE), IDEAM (TUS), CCS

Start date: September 2022

End date: August 2025

Objectives:

xBUILD-EU aims facilitate cross-sectoral collaboration and cross-fertilization across textile, construction and advanced technologies as catalyst to deploy green solutions and a more digital that enable making building safer with smart safety wear and high performing materials, more energy efficient and green using sustainable textile materials and cross-fertilizing circular economy between construction and textile, eco designed, and connected using smart textiles and advanced technologies.

xBUILD-EU will launch 2 calls for proposals with a total 1.05M€ in funding for SMEs with the following vouchers:

• xBUILD – Innovate: SME driven innovation project with 20k€ in lump-sum funding to develop and launch innovative products to market
• xBUILD – Green and digital: SME consortia projects with 50k€ in lump-sum funding to test and pilot digital and green solutions.
• xBUILD – Global: Single SME voucher with 25k€ in lump-sum to facilitate market access internationally, driving market assessment and participating in a third country business mission.

During the course of the project, several activities will be organized to foster cross-sectoral collaboration including training webinars and joint events.

More information: https://clustercollaboration.eu/eu-cluster-partnerships/euroclusters/xbuild-eu-0

ADMANTEX2i aims to lead international cluster cooperation in advanced manufacturing and advanced textile materials as an enabler for globally competititive sustainable products functional in a broad range of high-end applications.

More information:

https://admantex2i.eu

RegioGreenTex - Regions for green textiles

Program: Interregional Innovation Investments Instrument (I3)​

Participation of AEI TÈXTILS: Partner. Consortium led by EURATEX  (Belgium) and formed by 43 partners (clusters, research centers and companies). Two companies participating in the consortium are AEI Tèxtils’ members: Polisilk and Hilaturas Arnau.

Start date: January 2023

End date: December 2025

Objectives:

RegioGreenTex is a Quadruple-Helix partnership initiative which maps and mitigates the pitfalls which currently exist in the implementation of a systematic circular economy model within the textile industry across the EU by:

• Mapping the gaps and the weaknesses among regions and clusters with different levels of circular economy application and different levels of economic development.
• Unifying the sustainable textile European market by making meet demand and offer on the same digital platform
• Transferring and capacity-building the consortium partners in sharing technologies and methodologies
• Developing a focused pilot-testing of TRL6 technologies of the business partners of the consortium and via a cascade funding actions, testing the overall methodology and mentoring the change in a more diffuse and strategic level.

More information: https://www.regiogreentex.eu