June 28th-29th, Hotel Colon, Barcelona, Spain
The European NanoBusiness Association is proud to announce Europe's first nanotextile conference, EuroNanoTex 2004, June 28-29, 2004, Hotel Colon, Barcelona, Spain. EuroNanoTex will examine the twin issues of competitiveness and nanotechnology in the European textile industry.
With economic pressures mounting for the European textile industry, especially from the end of quotas in 2005, it has become increasingly imperative for this industry to find ways become more competitive by adding more 'knowledge' to its products.
EuroNanoTex is designed to provide a roadmap on how nanotechnology can best be leveraged to make the the textile industry more competitive. It will provide the textile industry, nanotechnology solution providers, and government policy makers a better understanding on which areas of nanotechnology would be useful, and to better understand the issues and to look for European solutions.
The answers are clear:
- The EU is the world´s largest exporter of textile products, representing a 15% share of the world market in 2001
- The EU is also the world´s second largest exporter of textiles and clothing combined, accounting for 11% of the world market—just behind China
- In terms of imports, the EU imports €72 billion in textile and clothing goods, or around 20% of world imports, second after the United States which accounts for 24% of world imports
- The EU textile industry employs 2 million people in some 120,000 textile companies. This represents nearly 8% of all EU manufacturing industry employment
The textile industry is critical to health and competitiveness of the European economy. While outsourcing to Eastern Europe and Asia remains an avenue to maintain this competitiveness, there is a drive to produce more knowledge-enabled, high-value-added products within the EU itself.
Nanotechnology offers solutions for keeping the textile industry in Europe competitive with the rest of the world:
- Lowering costs
- Improving margins
- Creating access to new markets
In order to fully examine the twin issues of competitiveness and nanotechnology in the European textile industry, the European NanoBusiness Association is organising a two-day conference to examine:
- The key economic drivers for change in the textiles sector
- The effect of technology on the competitiveness of the sector
- How nanotechnology is already being applied to the textile industry
- Future trends and directions
