Session 1: Nanotechnologies Impact on the European Textile Industry

This session will measure the economic impact that nanotechnologies are having upon the textile industry. This will be accomplished by looking at not only the current state of adoption of nanotechnologies within the textile industry, but by also examining the adoption of other technological innovations in textiles to see what we might reasonably expect the impact to be in the future.

9:10 New Materials Invention, Innovation and Disruption in the Textile and Clothing Industries: the implications of disruptive nanomaterials innovation for the future development and restructuring of the textile and fashion clothing industries in the early 21st century?

Invited Speaker: Noor Fianti, Dept. Materials, Queen Mary, Univ. London, UK

9:40 Making nanotechnology relevant to the textile industry: Creating new markets and business in the textile industry.

Invited Speaker: Dr. Stephen J. Fonash, NanoHorizons, USA

10:10 EXECUTIVE PANEL: Measuring the impact of nanotechnologies upon the textile industry: Have we moved beyond novelty into products and economic impact?

Participants (to be confirmed): Ziche, Zegna, Marzotto

10:40 Coffee Break

Session 2: Applications for Nanotechnologies in Textiles: Material Treatment

The textile industry consists of distinct processes:

· The treatment of raw materials.
· The production of knitted and woven fabrics.
· Finishing activities - aimed at giving fabrics the visual, physical and aesthetic properties which consumers demand.
· The transformation of those fabrics into products.

This session will examine how nanotechnologies are fitting into these processes today and where we can expect them to enable the textile industry in the future.

11:10 Creating high functional textiles with nano-scale coatings

Invited Speaker: Prof. Torsten Textor, Deutsches Textilforschungszentrum Nord-West e.V., Germany

11:40 Nano-scaled treatment of textiles using plasma enhancement

Invited Speaker: Dr. Dawn Balazs, Lab. for Functional Fibers and Textiles, EMPA, Switzerland

12:10 Creating self-cleaning textiles through nano-scale TiO2 coating processes

Invited Speaker: Prof. John Kiwi, EPFL, Switzerland

12:40 Anti-microbial coating agents

Invited Speaker: Robert Kwan, JR Nanotech, UK

13:10 Lunch Break

Session 3: Applications for Nanotechnologies in Textiles: Products

The textile industry consists of a number of different product groups:

• Garments
• Home Furnishings
• Technical Textiles

Nanotechnologies are currently employed in some of these application, or product, areas. This session will examine how nanotechnologies are being applied in these product areas with an emphasis on the economic and functional benefits they provide.

14:40 Technical Textiles: what can nanotechnology deliver and when?

Invited Speaker: Dr. Jan Beringer, Competence Center Smart Textiles, Hohenstein Institutes, Germany

15:10 Wearable Electronics: Examining how microtechnology is evolving to nanotechnology in the enabling of earable electronics and what this evolution will mean for the development of more wearable electronics.

Invited Speaker: Markus Strecker, Interactive Wear AG, Germany

15:40 Coffee Break

16:10 EXECUTIVE PANEL: What should we expect the textiles of the future to be offering consumers due to nanotechnologies?

This panel will bring together representatives from each of the previous sessions in the day to discuss how the textile industry will be impacted and possibly transformed by nanotechnologies over the next few years and looking beyond to the next five to 10 years. From this session, you will be able to get insight into not only what will be possible with nanotechnologies, but why these scenarios will either be likely or not.

17:00 Close of Day 1