At the Board of Directors meeting on July 21, TECHTERA announced the appointment of Philippe Sanial, Technical Director of the CHOMARAT group, as President of the cluster, succeeding Louis Vovelle.

Philippe Sanial succeeds Louis Vovelle, Senior Vice President Innovation and R&D at Elkem, who has been involved for 10 years in the cluster's presidency and has helped to establish Techtera on a sustainable path.
Philippe Sanial, is Technical Director in charge of R&D, industrialization, and methods at CHOMARAT, the French industrial textile group specialized in reinforcements for Composite materials, reinforcements for Construction materials, coated textiles & technical films. The group has been a member of TECHTERA since its creation. Philippe Sanial has initiated partnerships between the CHOMARAT group and national and international research centers.

Philippe SANIAL, new president of Techtera :
• Technical Director in charge of R&D, industrialization, methods and Quality Director of CHOMARAT
• Education: ITECH engineer, Master in composite materials (University of Lyon), management training (INSEAD)
• 1991 -2021: CHOMARAT
• 2016-2019: IFTH Administrator

A context favourable to the new challenges of the textile sector
Philippe Sanial has an in-depth knowledge of the levers of collaborative innovation, particularly for SMEs and ETIs. He will also be able to rely on a solid base within TECHTERA, both in terms of structure and teams, and on the legacy of Louis VOVELLE and the governance bodies.
3 challenges for the new president :
• To contribute to the federation of the means and resources of the textile industry to meet future challenges, particularly environmental ones,
• To include the trades, products and projects of the sector in the panorama of France 2030,
• To link the challenges of the sector (digitalization, circular economy) with those of France 2030.
This ambition will be reflected in the construction of Techtera's new roadmap.