Dornbirn-GFC 2019 discusses the needs of tomorrow in innovation and R&D. The 58th edition of Dornbirn-GFC, which now goes beyond being just a fibre activity and becomes a platform where the future of the textile industry is discussed, took place in Dornbirn, Austria from September 11 to 13, 2019. During the 3-day event, more than 100 international speakers and researchers presented their innovations, trends and research for the global fibre and textile industry.
Sustainability, digitalization and startup initiatives were the main topics of Dornbirn-GFC. High-level scientific presentations from academic research and industry have empowered participants for their future innovative actions. This year, more than 700 participants from more than 30 countries participated in the world’s largest fibre innovation congress. Particularly companies from Asia and Turkey showed significant interest.
From the perspective of the fibre industry top plenary lectures led by Robert van de Kerkhof, CCO Lenzing AG and Uday Gill, CEO Indorama Ventures focused on sustainability. How can software industry support sustainable industry? This question was outlined by impressing examples from Robert Rosellen, Dir Microsoft and Stefan Achleitner, Research Palo Alto Networks.
In the CEO Panel held within the scope of Dornbirn-GFC, the issue of sustainable/circular economy was discussed. A controversial discussion among the representatives of the European Textile Association (Mauro Scalia, Dir EURATEX), the fast growing Sports Brand Lululemon (Yogendra Dandapure, Dir Lululemon) and the world`s biggest fibre producers (Uday Gill, CEO Indorama Ventures, Robert van de Kerkhof, CCO Lenzing AG, Gunjan Sharma, CMO Reliance). Kerkhof commented at the panel; “The whole textile industry is focused on the consumer relating to measurements for climate protection and against environmental pollution. Circular economy is one of the solutions in order to avoid negative effects from daily acting versus nature”.
Dornbirn-GFC 2019 1st Startup Days
Digitalization was another important topic of the congress. In particular, it was discussed whether Europe remained behind the US and China in innovation. Josef Mantl, CEO JMC opened this complex topic with the Cyber Security expert from California Stefan Achleitner, Research Palo Alto Networks and the digitalization consultant Thomas Riegler, Partner PwC.
The Dornbirn-GFC Startup Days, an innovative extension of the congress, took place this year for the first time in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). With the slogan ‘Come and see where Startups meet Industry, Research and Brands’; more than 20 new entrepreneurs had the opportunity to participate in presentations and present their innovations in a special event tent. In addition, the Startup Awards were given to three best projects.
Dornbirn-GFC as network generator – for the second time the Congress App enabled the participants successfully to network with each other.
The prestigious Paul Schlack/Wilhelm Albert Award of the Dornbirn-GFC was also given this year to Vera Gail; of the University of Applied Sciences Niederrhein in Germany for her research on ‘Thermosensitive nano-membrane’. Under the leadership of Syngroup Consulting; around 15 young researchers at this year’s Young Scientist Forum sought answers to the question ‘Quo Vadis in research’.