Recap: The Value Chain Cross-Fertilisation Workshop (Paris)
Following the second SmartX IoT hackathon in Stuttgart, our community was able to come together in person again, this time in France. The well-attended Value Chain Cross-Fertilisation Workshop, jointly organised with SmartEES, took place on November 29-30 in Paris. It was hosted by SmartX partner, Institut Français de la Mode.
The value chain workshop was jointly organised by the SmartX and SmartEEs programmes.
The goal of the event was to match smart textiles innovators – start-ups and SME who had received funding from SmartX and SmartEEs – with potential business partners and investors active in their respective value chains: health, sports, protection, and industrial.
In order to help foster these connections, the workshop agenda included extended coffee breaks and speed dating sessions between stakeholders and awarded projects.
The goal of the event was to match smart textiles innovators with potential business partners and investors in their respective value chains.
The first day included keynote speaker Mathieu Charleux from the medtech strategy and business development company MDxp and was dedicated to the children, newborn, medical, and wellbeing end markets.
11 SmartX projects presented their results during the session moderated by Lutz Walter from SmartX coordinator Textile ETP. The day concluded with an engaging presentation on investment trends by Yohann Bohard from Blumorpho, a service provider in technology scouting and innovation sourcing.
The day concluded with an engaging presentation on investment trends by Yohann Bohard from Blumorpho.
Day two was dedicated to sports, protection, and industrial applications.
The second day focused on sports, protection and industrial applications. It was kicked off by a brilliant presentation from Gauthier Bedek, Innovation Manager at Groupe Éram, who later gave the floor to six SmartX and four SmartEEs projects. The session was chaired by SmartX Project Manager Judith Bosch from Textile ETP.
Klaas Vande Velde of Worldklaas presenting SWEMAX by Biometrica, one of SmartX-funded projects
Sensing Tex CEO Miguel Ridao during his presentation of SmartX-funded Seat Mat for wheelchairs
The two-day event offered a great opportunity to create new connections among participants. We all enjoyed the nice atmosphere and beautiful views of Paris and the River Seine from the IFM building.
Special thanks to the IFM, EuraMaterials, and Textile ETP for helping put this event together, and the following SmartX partners for making the trip to Paris: DSP Valley, Steinbeis Europa Zentrum, CITC IoT Cluster, Centexbel, Texfor, and DITF. We also want to thank the SmartEEs consortium for allowing us to look for project synergies and agreeing to collaborate on the event.
The two-day workshop was a great opportunity for networking and creating connections.
Join us for the final SmartX conference on April 20-21, 2022 in Brussels. More information will be posted on our website and social media channels. Subscribe to our newsletter to be notified and join SmartX to connect with over 800 European smart textile professionals. Our community will continue beyond 2022.
Join the SmartX community to connect with over 800 European smart textile professionals.