Textile Innovation Programme
Yorkshire’s textile manufacturers are set to become world leaders thanks to a £6million investment from Yorkshire Forward and the European Regional Development Fund.
Weaving aircraft components and anti-counterfeiting for the fashion industry are just two focuses of the Textile Innovation Programme, which will provide practical and financial backing for manufacturers to work with experts from universities and research organisations to create new high-value, ‘high tech’ products.
The programme, which is being run through the Textile Centre of Excellence follows a series of feasibility studies conducted earlier this year will significantly increase the region’s capacity to operate in the Advanced Materials sector.
The value of the technical textiles market, which covers a wide range of sectors including medical, engineering, construction, automotive and aerospace has grown to an estimated £30 billion. New technologies, coupled with increasing environmental concerns are opening up major opportunities for companies that can create lighter, stronger components, and materials that can sense and adjust to their environment.
Boeing is currently developing its new 787 which is to be made of woven carbon fibre and laminates. The Textile Innovation Programme’s feasibility studies demonstrated that woven aircraft components can outperform titanium and aluminium, and the potential market opportunity for these strong, lightweight components is vast.
Another area where the Programme is set to make an early impact is anti-counterfeiting. Currently the high quality textile and fashion markets along with other key regional sectors like pharmaceuticals are facing a growing crisis, where counterfeit products are accounting for up to 10% of sales.
The Centre is already working with APDN, an American company based at Stony Brook University in New York, and has succeeded in impregnating fabrics with botanical DNA, so they can be authenticated with 100% accuracy using the same testing methods used by forensic labs for criminal investigations.
Jim Farmery, Assistant Director of Business at Yorkshire Forward has explained why the RDA has invested in the Programme “Yorkshire Forward is very pleased to invest in new platform technologies that will foster growth and, ultimately, reap positive economic benefits to the Yorkshire business community, and the UK and European public at large”.
The Textile Innovation Programme will also support a wide range of environmental improvement activities through the University of Leeds, which will allow manufacturers to use more environmentally friendly chemicals in wool processing and reduce the use of power and water at all stages of production.
Other applications from the programme include the use of nano and plasma technologies to produce fabrics which are self-cleaning, conductive fibres to make ‘smart’ clothing that can monitor the wearer’s body functions and dressings that monitor wounds, prevent infection and deliver medication.
Barry Sheerman MP for Huddersfield and Chairman of the environmental charity Urban Mines said, “This is a massively important Programme for our region. It is a fantastic vote of confidence in our manufacturing industry by Yorkshire Forward and a recognition that our future lies in the production of high-quality, technical and specialist products. This Programme illustrates how collaboration between industry and academia breeds innovation, and where a shared goal of creating new commercial products can sustain our competitive advantage for years to come”.
The updates on the various projects can be viewed from the links below.
D30 Material
3D Weaving/Composites
Nano Functional Fibres
Plasma/Laser Applications
Anti-Counterfeit
Textile Futures Newsletter Spring 2010
Applications
The links below will take you to examples of documents used in our procurement process. We would encourage organisations who supply services or equipment that may be relevant to the Programme to contact us with a view to being included on our Approved Supplier List.
PQQ for Technology Suppliers.pdf
Scoring Criteria - Evaluation of Tenders.pdf
Tender Invite Letter Template.pdf
Want to find out more?
Contact Bill Macbeth via billmacbeth@textile-training.com or by telephone on 01484 346500
