After more than 15 years since publishing the first agenda for European Technology Platform, which is a platform for researching textile and clothing innovations, new strategic goals were set for the joint activities that regard prioritizing during the identification of the most strategic innovation topics in this sector for the next 10 years. One of the important conclusions was that it is not sufficient to bring back and increase the production levels in this sector, but the most important strategic step would be to secure the production of adequate workforce that has the necessary skills to respond to the ever-increasing hi-tech industry. This is just one of the challenges during the attraction and retention of highly skilled workforce.
Four strategic innovation topics are highlighted as particularly influential for the sustained development of European textile and clothing industry:
- Smart high-performance materials
- Advanced digital production, value chain and business models
- Circular economy and resources efficiency
- Solutions that add value towards market growth.
There are a lot of changes in the time we are living that led to changes of the needs and expectations of clients. They expect high quality products that have added value and they expect them to be delivered fast. The new digital transformation naturally imposed itself because of this, starting with 3D printed dresses to smart factories.
