GALACTICA project, coordinated by the Catalan Cluster of Advanced textile materials, AEI TÈXTILS, celebrated its Final Event in Barcelona, on February 16, 2023, with more than 110 attendees.

 

GALACTICA objective was to demonstrate the viability of new industrial value chains across the textile and aeronautical/aerospace sectors based on advanced manufacturing throughout the EU.

 

The final event of GALACTICA was held in parallel with the EBAN Impact Summit in order to promote the participation of both communities.

 

It started with an overview of the project and its achievements by its coordinator, the project manager of AEI Tèxtils, Josep Casamada, and other members of the consortium, focusing on the best practices and the new value chains generated in the project.

 

The event continued with four presentations focused on technologies and the aerospace sector. After a break to establish contacts, five beneficiary companies of the Orbital Projects call, pitched their projects and answered the questions of the jury members.

 

The Orbital Projects funded by GALACTICA have generated new cross-sectoral value chains that connect the different sectors of GALACTICA with initial market tests of the products and services developed.

 

After lunch, the General Director of Innovation, Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship from Generalitat de Catalunya, explained how Catalonia is promoting entrepreneurship and impact investment.

 

Next, the General Secretary of the European Textile Technology Platform, Lutz Walter, presented the innovation trends in the textile industry.

 

A round table followed, in which 5 textile experts discussed on sustainability and circularity in this industry. The President of the cluster, Sergi Artigas, was one of the participants, along with Dra. Mònica Ardanuy from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, member of the cluster.

 

At the end, five beneficiary companies of the Pioneer Acceleration Projects call pitched their projects as part of the pitching competition. One of them was the company TEXFIRE, member of the cluster.

 

The Pioneer Acceleration Projects funded by GALACTICA have generated new intersectoral value chains focused on the development of a Minimum Viable Product (PMV).

 

During the event, posters were also exhibited with the results of another 20 projects of the two types. After the event, the members of the jury selected the winners from the two pitching categories: Orbital Projects, Pioneer Acceleration Projects, and posters.

 

TEXFIRE, with its rCF project, a fabric made with 100% recycled carbon fibers, was one of the runner-up, with a €7,000 prize.

 

The event concluded with a networking cocktail at Barcelona Pier 01 with all the participants.

 

For 30 months, GALACTICA has supported more than 120 companies and distributed a total of €3M in different formats: grants for the Orbital and Pioneer Acceleration projects, travel vouchers for exploratory missions and awards.

AEI Tèxtils considers this project has been a cornerstone for the long-term innovation capacity of the advanced textile material’s sector. Clusters act as a hub and as a collaborative environment to facilitate partnership between enterprises, research institutes, policy makers and other institutions that promote innovation and provide SMEs access to new knowledge competencies, resources and markets.