Driving textile innovation forward together
Swiss Textiles launches Research Radar and the Def-Tex Cluster
Swiss Textiles, Empa St. Gallen and Armasuisse, together with other partners, have developed two new tools designed to promote innovation in the Swiss textile and clothing industry. Whilst the Research Radar regularly informs association members about projects open for applications in Switzerland and the EU, the ‘Def Tex Cluster’ supports them in turning their innovations into marketable products. Last week, the partners celebrated the launch in Dübendorf. |
Photographs: Aladin Klieber
It has now been official since Thursday: last week, Swiss Textiles and its partners in Dübendorf launched two new initiatives designed to drive innovation among Swiss textile and clothing companies.
Using a ‘research radar’, Empa St. Gallen will keep members up to date on current calls for proposals. It will assess the opportunities and potential offered by calls for proposals from Innosuisse and EU Horizon exclusively for Swiss Textiles members. At the same time, it will support them in forming consortia. The topics covered are wide-ranging. The first edition of the ‘Research Radar’ focuses on dual-use technologies.
How innovation projects give rise to marketable products
Whilst textile research in Switzerland has already achieved success, there are still some shortcomings when it comes to turning this research into marketable products. By establishing the Def Tex Cluster, the partner organisations Swiss Textiles, Empa St. Gallen, OST University of Applied Sciences, Armasuisse and the Switzerland Innovation Park OST aim to support companies in this endeavour.
The aim is to combine textile innovations from the defence sector (dual-use) and from research partners with expertise from other industries. Companies will be supported in developing a viable business case. The cluster is being established at the Switzerland Innovation Park OST and is financially supported by the founding partners.
The Def-Tex Cluster aims in particular to strengthen SMEs and help them bridge the critical gap between prototype and market-ready product. This is to be achieved through shared infrastructure, coordinated knowledge transfer and targeted support throughout the innovation chain.
20 million Swiss francs for dual-use technologies
Innosuisse and Armasuisse are jointly launching a call for projects and investing 20 million Swiss francs in the initiative. The aim is to promote dual-use technologies that are used in both the security and defence sectors and the civilian economy.
The initiative forms part of a series of current political and institutional measures aimed at specifically strengthening Switzerland’s capacity for innovation in the field of dual-use technologies. Last June, the Federal Council adopted its first defence strategy. Among other things, it provides for the expansion of research, development and innovation to further develop the Swiss Armed Forces, as well as the strengthening of the security-related technological and industrial base.