AEI Tèxtils, the Catalan advanced textile materials’ cluster, was in Morocco last week to reinforce the collaborations and synergies with Moroccan stakeholders through FOSTEX project, led by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Terrassa (member of the cluster). AEI Tèxtils held several bilateral meetings with the two FOSTEX partners in Morocco: University Hassan II and ESITH to reinforce the synergies.

During the stay in Morocco, AEI Tèxtils also participated in the interim conference of FOSTEX with over 100 local attendees with presentations from Ariadna Detrell, Cluster Manager, about the network led by the cluster on smart textiles, CONTEXT, and Josep Casamada, responsible of cluster projects, featuring the innovation methodology and services of the cluster.

In addition, the cluster organized a dedicated agenda for Catalan companies interested in doing business with Morocco, by holding synergic meetings locally through its partnership with the Cluster of Technical Textiles in Morocco (C2TM) and ESITH.

José Fuster, a Catalan distributor of textile equipment specialized in yarn spinning machinery, participated in the mission and visited the trade fair Maroc in Mode in El Jadida and the labs from ESITH for training and industry support.

Internationalization is key area of the cluster strategy addressing two major objectives: increasing the competitiveness of its members with facilitated access to third country markets and the increased visibility of the members at international level thanks to the cluster participation in key events, both in Europe and internationally.

Collaborations undertaken in FOSTEX project support these activities to reinforce the links with Moroccan stakeholders and facilitating access to market for the cluster members. Next activities of FOSTEX will focus on Jordan market with the participation of the cluster in its final conference.

AEI Tèxtils will also feature its members in a joint booth during Techtextil 2022 in Frankfurt from June 21s to 24^th. 5 cluster members will join AEI Tèxtils stand with a dedicated showcase of innovative textile solutions. In addition, several other cluster members will also participate with their own booth. In order to foster collaborations and synergies with other advanced textile clusters in Europe, AEI Tèxtils will facilitate B2B meetings between its members and other European SMEs through the EU-TEXTILE2030 EEIG, which the cluster co-founded on 2019.

These kind of projects aim to support SMEs in identifying and exploiting growth opportunities worldwide through activities such as partnering missions, matchmaking events, cross-partnership webinars, circular economy business models, digitalization driver and cross-cultural approach, and lessons in building industrial resilience.