Event recap: Accelerate And Finance Your Smart Textiles Project

The regional workshop was organized on the 13th of November 2019 in Barcelona by our Spanish partner Texfor. It aimed to highlight the potential of smart textiles and how the SmartX programme is going to boost innovation to develop an end-to-end smart textiles manufacturing value chain in Europe.

As with other SmartX workshops, the main goal of this one was to help attendees discover state-of-the-art innovation in smart textiles, get the latest on the European Union strategy for the industry, and find out how to apply for SmartX funding and support. [The Expression of Interest call is currently open.]

Attended by over 40 people, including local journalists, the workshop featured Spanish-language presentations from business leaders, researchers, and SmartX representatives. Each talk was followed by a lively Q&A session.


The programme began with a presentation by Virgínia García, Functional Textiles Unit Manager at Eurecat, who spoke about new-generation smart textiles and their applications. It was followed by real cases from Miquel Ridao – CEO at Sensingtex, and Nacho Gil – Professor at UPC Electronic Engineering.

After that, SmartX coordinators took the floor. Mònica Olmos – Director of Operations at Texfor and Judith Bosch, Project Manager at Textile ETP, spoke about the SmartX programme: the upcoming funding calls for European SMEs and start-ups in the smart textile industry, as well as our new online community for industry professionals.

The morning concluded with a high-intensity, 1 hour-long networking session, which was moderated by the organizers and aimed at introducing attendees to one another.

The participants were given pieces of paper with cues to help them prepare a short presentation (their 30-second “elevator pitch”). They were asked to list their company, how they could help others, and what tools or solutions they offered. Once ready, they had to present themselves to someone (and listen to their pitch), then switch and talk to someone else. “Everybody will remember it,” Monica Olmos said afterwards.



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