For communicate the future of man-made fibers, 56th Dornbirn Man-Made Fibers Congress (Dornbirn-MFC) will be held between 13-15 September. Each year, the Dornbirn-MFC is host to more than 700 participants from more than 30 nations (80% from Europe, 15% from Asia, and 5% from America).  Incoming registrations seem to suggest that the number of participants will even be slightly higher in 2017.

The European-led innovation platform for the fiber industry and downstream manufacturing stages is to function as a generator of ideas and networking agent, with every participant contributing to the success of the event.

The more than 100 expert presentations (50% from industry and 50% from the academic world) will cover the following fields

• Fibre innovations
• Fibres, textiles and nonwovens for healthcare and hygienic applications
• Fibres, textiles and nonwovens for protective applications
• Fibres, textiles and nonwovens for sports and leisure wear

Dornbirn-MFC; Top-class Plenary Lectures on Opening Day:  

Professor Franz Josef  Radermacher, of  Ulm University, Head of the  Forschungsinstitut für anwendungsorientierte Wissensverarbeitung (Research Institute for Application-oriented Knowledge Processing), Member of the Club of Rome,  will address the subject of “Globalisation, Sustainability, Future – is there still hope for us?“

Hervé Buisson, Veolia Water Technologies / USA, will report on prospects for “Innovative Fibres and Textiles in the Field of Water Management“, and Dr. Heinz Meierkord , the President of the European Man-Made Fibres Association  CIRFS,  will present a paper on the “Contribution of Man-made Fibres to the Balanced Use of Global Resources“. 

In the field of fiber innovations participants may look forward to a number of  highly interesting papers, including three presentations from Germany on the subject of “marine litter (microplastics)“ and reviews of such subjects as recycling, biopolymers and high-performance fibers.

Recent developments in the field of healthcare and hygienic applications will be discussed from the angle of hospital and general health care as well as implantology. Alongside the major brands, a number of reputable “private labels“ in the field of sanitary care will also be represented.

The introductory paper on protective applications will be presented by a speaker from NASA (USA), who will talk about flame-retardant textile fibres in the context of space research, and the representative of a world-wide renowned manufacturer of protective clothing will, amongst others,  talk about recent developments as well as the requirements placed  on upstream processing stages.

In the field of sports and leisure wear the innovative, much-decorated outdoor brand VAUDE and the global manufacturer MAS Holding will present highly interesting papers, and representatives of industry and research will submit presentations on functionalisation and ecological production methods.

Interactive panel discussions: 

To make our programme more lively and interactive, Dornbirn-MFC has planned panel discussions on a number of key issues.

On Opening Day there will be a management talk on the most timely subject of “Marine Litter – a problem turned into an innovative opportunity“. The panel will be headed by Walter Woitsch, a partner of SYNGROUP Consulting. Other panel members will be Prof. Franz Josef Radermacher /  Ulm University, Philipp Meister / Adidas, Wilhelm Rauch / IVC, Robert van de Kerkhof / Lenzing, Uday Gill / Indorama.

In the field of sports and leisure wear a panel on  “Sustainability & Performance – a contradiction in this industry?” has been planned for Thursday noon, just before the lunch break; discussants are Rene Bethmann / VAUDE,  a representative of Adidas, Ranil Vitarana / MAS Holding, and other Brands, who will be headed by Giuseppe Gherzi.

In the segment protective applications, the second day will be concluded with a discussion on “The endless saga of ultra-light & ingenious high performance features: What’s next?” Moderated by Dr. Isa Hofmann, the panel will include Evelyne Orndoff / NASA, Michael Stanhope / Tencate, Oliver Spöcker / Lenzing AG, Pierluigi Bernardi / Nilit and a representative of DSM Dyneema.

Dornbirn-MFC – Young Scientists Forum: 

The outstanding success of last year‘s “Young Scientists Forum“ has induced us to repeat the event, this time on the last day of  the Congress.. The workshop, which will again be chaired by Walter Woitsch, Managing Partner –  Industrieberatung SYNGROUP (A),  will be devoted to the subject of the “Impact of  the Digital (R)Evolution on Research & Development“.

Expert Panel / Workshop ”Circular Economy: Textile & Nonwovens Waste – a threat or opportunity?” on the day preceding the congress :

This highly topical subject will be studied by a group of experts drawn from the fiber industry and downstream manufacturing stages, trading firms and, for the first time, waste management companies.

This unique event will be jointly organised by the Dornbirn-MFC in cooperation with CIRFS (the European Man-made Fibres Association), EDANA (the association of the nonwovens industry) and ISWA (the global association of waste management companies).

It will be moderated by SYNGROUP, Austria‘s most important management consulting group) under the chairmanship of Walter Woitsch.