Dornbirn- GFC 57 focusses on new advances in fibre sector

25 Sep '18

3 min read

Courtesy: Dornbirn GFC

The 57th Dornbirn Global Fiber Congress (Dornbirn GFC), the European-led innovation platform for the fibre industry, which was held from September 12-14, 2018, in Austria, focussed on latest innovations in the fibre industry and its downstream stages. More than 700 participants from over 35 nations took part in the major platform for textile industry.

More than a 100 high qualitative international lectures from academy and industry highlighted the congress. Beside the presentations, the audience had the possibility to ask specific questions and, therefore, the topics were discussed in a practical way. Also this year, the share of lectures from the industry was about 50 per cent. Next to Europe, a lot of interesting lectures were presented from Japan, China, Taiwan, India, USA, Canada, and Turkey, according to a press release by Dornbirn.

The Paul Schlack / Wilhelm Albrecht Prize 2018 was awarded to some innovative projects. Dr. Alexander Weise, RWTH Aachen, ITA won for his project ‘development of graphene modified multi-filaments for the construction of textile electrical storage’ and Dr. Christoph Rieger, DITF/ITV Denkendorf won for his project ‘development of a manufacturing system for high temperature stable meltblown nonwovens and their characteristics’.

The participants could use a new congress-app for the first time. The app improved the communication and information during the congress. The participants had the possibility to be informed on the presentation and lecturer in advance.

Sebastian Kurz, the Austrian Federal Chancellor, opened this year’s congress. His presentation via a video transmission brought to light important topics and aspects as well as future issues. Furthermore, the interview with James Holbery from Microsoft US on the issue of ‘How will Smart Textiles change the world and what does Microsoft expect from industry?’ was very enlightening.

As a connoisseur of the automotive industry, Professor Theo Sams from AVL List, the world’s biggest independent company for the development of drive systems, illuminated the ‘relevance and potentials of the fibre industry in the future development of the automotive industry’.

The successful, rapidly growing Canadian-brand Lululemon Athletica, represented by Yogendra Dandapure, provided forward-looking trends and the technology approach for the industry and he took part at the panel discussion ‘Circular Economy’. Edwin Keh, CEO of the international renowned Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA), gave a lecture on ‘Circular Economy’ and also participated at the subsequent panel discussion.

The board members and CEOs discussed lively and with different views on sustainability and how the big European and Asian fibre producers position themselves to the ‘3 Ps – Planet, People, Profit’. A panel discussion took place on the topic ‘Circular Economy – What an Opportunity!’ moderated by the expert of sustainability, Reiner Hengstmann. The participants Eberhard Brack/Märkische Faser, Peter Bartsch/Lenzing, Michael Chtepa/Seaqual4U, Yogendra Dandapure/Lululemon, Edwin Keh/HKRITA, Luis Marinheiro/ISWA (International Solid and Waste Association) demonstrated high commitment and approaches to the current topic, strongly promoted by the EU Commission.

The topic ‘Digital Age in Research and Development’ was deepened in a workshop by young scientists on September 11, 2018, guided by Syngroup Consulting (AUT). (GK)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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