The fiber industry came together at the 57th time in Dornbirn, Austria. The Dornbirn Global Fiber Congress (Dornbirn-GFC) took place from September 12^th to 14^th with an intense participation. With the theme “Communicating Fiber Innovations” more than 100 presentations from academia and textile industry were shared with more than 700 viewers from 30 countries. 70% of those who came to learn about the innovations in fiber industry came from Europe and 35% from Asia and USA.

The fact that almost 50% of the presentations at the event are from the industry is considered as an important development. The presentations created an interactive and lively environment in which viewers had the opportunity to ask questions. Although the European presentations were in majority, Japan, China, Taiwan, India, USA, Canada and Turkey held very interesting presentations.

Paul Schlack/Wilhelm Albrecht Awarding 2018

Two projects have received the Paul Schlack / Wilhelm Albrecht 2018 Award at the Dornbirn-GFC. Dr. Alexander Weise, RWTH Aachen, ITA convinced the jury with his project “development of graphene modified multifilaments for the construction of textile electrical storage” and Dr. Christoph Rieger, DITF/ITV Denkendorf convinced with his project; “development of a manufacturing system for high temperature stable meltblown nonwovens and their characteristics”.

Synergy with smart textiles symposium

The cooperation and synergy with the symposium being held at the same time in Dornbirn was very successful. Participants of the Dornbirn-GFC had the opportunity listen to the high quality lectures at the symposium free of charge.

The 3^rd Young Scientists Forum held at the Congress focused on the “Digital Age in Research and Development”. It was underlined that Microsoft’s participation was extremely valuable.

New Congress-App for Dornbirn-GFC

Congress participants also met with a smart app. This app improved the communication and information during the congress. The participants had the possibility to be informed on the presentation and lecturer in advance. Further the aspect of networking was of great interest. All Dornbirn-GFC participants will be linked together with the app and may get in contact with each other.

Top-class plenary lectures on the opening day

The Austrian Federal Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, gave a speech in order to open this year’s congress through a video transmission. 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. His keynote at the “Smart Textiles Symposium”.

Smart Textiles in the age of digitization – an enormous potential for textile industry! As a connoisseur of the automotive industry, Prof. Theo Sams from AVL List, the world`s biggest independent company for the development of drive systems, illuminated the “relevance and potentials of the fiber industry in the future development of the automotive industry“.

Supported and sponsored by industry-leading companies and public institutions, Dornbirn-GFC’s synergies of the network with EDANA enhanced the innovative strength of the participants.

Preparations for next congress has started

The 58^th Dornbirn-GFC Congress on 11-13 September 2019 will focus on the following key topics; fiber innovations, circular economy, digitization in the fiber and textile industry, surface modification and additives, home textiles, sports and leisure wear, smart textiles, nonwovens.