On May 30, AEI Tèxtils, the Catalan cluster of technical textiles, held its 10th General Assembly, at the headquarters of the school of design LCI Barcelona.

During the morning, a Design Thinking session was led by Pep Martínex, certified consultant in this methodology. The session, in which 12 members participated, was aimed at defining the needs and challenges of the companies in the sector to redefine the strategy and new activities of the cluster to address them.

After the lunch, the 10th General Assembly of the cluster was held, whereas a major point discussed was the renewal of its Board of Directors, for a period of five years. The new board composition is:

• Leitat Technology Center, represented by Mr. Sergi Artigas (Presidency)
• Gremi Tèxtil de Terrassa, represented by Mr. Ricard Cima (Secretary)
• C.P. Aluart, S.L., represented by Mr. Paulí Aluart
• La Industrial Algodonera, S.A., represented by Mr. Jaime Cabré
• Manufacturas Arpe, S.L., represented by Mr. Joan Pera
• Marina Textil, S.L, represented by Mr. Raimon Sellarès
• Polisilk, S.A., represented by Mr. Marc Ponsa

During the Assembly, Dr. Ariadna Detrell, cluster manager of the AEI Tèxtils, presented the report of activities of the year 2017, among which these can be stood out:

• Presence in several international events related to the technical textiles sector: Techtextil fair, the European Textile Technological Platform conference, the Dornbirn man-made fibers congress, the Moroco Technical Textiles Meetings or the personal protection fair A + A.
• Coordination of the European projects MIDWOR-LIFE and LIFE-FLAREX, cofunded by LIFE programme of the European Commission, and the project PACTEX, at Catalan level.
• Participation as partner at the European projects EU-TEXTILE2030, cofunded by COSME – Clusters go to International programme, and TEXSTRA, cofunded by the Erasmus+ programme.
• Presentation of several project proposals with the objective of increasing the services to its members.
• Signature of collaboration agreements with the Moroccan technical textiles cluster C2TM and with the Valencian textile business association ATEVAL.
• Celebration of inter-cluster sessions with the photonics cluster and the energy efficiency, solar energy and packaging clusters.

As specific objectives for 2018, AEI Tèxtils has already developed and/or intends to carry out the following activities: preparation of new European projects to expand services and activities that contribute to increase the competitiveness of its members; promotion of ecodesign through the project ECODISTEX; co-organization of business missions to Colombia and Israel, within the framework of EU-TEXTILE2030; participation in the creation of the European association of advanced textile materials’ clusters; organization of networking meetings; accompanying companies in strategic change projects through European programs; leadership of a network of European experts in the field of advanced textile materials, through the European COST program, among others

In order to carry out all these activities, in June the cluster will increase its staff, being 3 people, with different complementary profiles to provide their experience both in the technical textiles sector, in the development of innovation activities, project management or strategic reorientation processes.

In short, what AEI Tèxtils intends to is become a reference to promote, boost and contribute in increaseing the competitiveness of the Catalan technical textiles’ cluster and its members: 24 companies in the value chain of the sector and 7 organizations related to it (technological centers, research institutes, business associations, etc.).