Leading experts from around the world will gather in Barcelona at the fourth Industrial Fabrics Association International Advanced Textiles Europe conference (AT Europe '11) which is being held alongside ITMA 2011 with two consecutive morning sessions on 26 and 27 September 2011. ITMA, the world's largest international textile machinery exhibition, runs from 22-29 September.

According to the organisers AT Europe 2011 is a unique conference designed to unveil valuable insights on new research and development, with a balance of actual application-based use. Each session is designed to spark creative thinking for businesses looking for ways to gain a competitive edge.

U.S. Consul Greggory Crouch

This week it was announced that Greggory Crouch, U.S. Consul General Barcelona, will give the Welcome Address in the opening session on ‘Market Needs.'

Crouch has served as U.S. Consulate General Barcelona since August 2009 and his previous overseas assignments span the globe, including Hamburg, Germany (2006-2007); Islamabad, Pakistan (2004-2005); Fukuoka, Japan (1995-2000); Oslo, Norway (1991-1993), and Washington, DC.

Following Crouch is Patricia Hualde, Policy Officer for the European Commission, whose talk is entitled: ‘The Need of Multi-Disciplinary Innovations for Assuring Sustainable Growth of the Textile Industry.' Hualde's presentation aims to set the tone for the technical textile industry's future.

"A distinguished technical advisory committee headed by Prof. Roshan Shishoo, Shishoo Consulting AB, has designed this unique technical textile conference," the organisers say.

Professor Roshan Shishoo

Shishoo's main research activities have been in the areas of physical, chemical and mechanical properties of fibres and fabrics and since 1979 he has specialized in leading basic and applied research projects in the area of technical textiles and nonwovens including highly functional fabrics and garments, medical textiles, absorbent hygienic products, automotive textiles, protective clothing, bedding and furniture and textile composites.

Prof. Shishoo has published over 200 papers in international scientific and technical journals and has obtained seven international patents.

Other committee members include Jan Laperre, Centexbel; Mary-Lynn Landgraf, U.S. Department of Commerce; Jos Van Hattum, Norafin (the sponsoring company of the conference); Ronald Seidl, Jacob-Mueller; Prof. Dr. Thomas Gries, RWTH Aachen University; Claude Levy-Rueff, IFAI European Representative; Ruth Stephens, IFAI Safety and Technical Products Division; and Kristy Meade, IFAI.

Conference Schedule

Market Needs - 26 September 2011 {1300 - 1630} Monday

In this session the focus will be on market needs for technical textiles in selected the market sectors: Personal Protection Clothing & Equipment (PPE), Building & Construction, Automotives and Shipping. In the PPE area the presentations will cover research and needs of Standardization and Certification from both European and U.S. perspective. The market and business needs will be addressed in terms of enhancement of innovations in order to assure sustainable growth of the textile industry.

Opening Presentations - Setting the tone for the future

Welcome Address by Greggory D. Crouch, Consul General of the United States of America in Barcelona

Patricia Hualde, EC Enterprise Directorate General, "The Need of Multi-disciplinary Innovations for Assuring Sustainable Growth of the Textile Industry"

Coffee Break

Henk Vanhoutte, Secretary General European Safety Federation, "Personal Protection Equipment - European Research & Standardization"

Grace & Jeffery Stull, International Personnel Protection, Inc., "Personal Protective Equipment - Standards and Certification the US Perspective"

Stephania Lombardi, Cannobio Construction, "Membrane Architecture - Insight to Problems and the Needs of the Industry"

Question and Answer Forum

Networking Reception

New Technologies and Manufacturing Processes - 27 September 2011 {1000 - 1300} Tuesday

Many emerging technologies such as nanotechnology are already in the industrial pipeline aiming at becoming an integral part of various manufacturing processes for the production of advanced and highly functional textiles. Many important technological advances have been made in fabric manufacturing processes such as weaving, braiding, and nonwovens technology. This session will provide presentations on these developments as well as on the topic of performance chemicals and smart coating technology for producing advanced fabrics.

Dr. Jan Laperre, Centexbel, "State of the Art on Industrialization of Emerging Technologies"

Kevin Myers, Huntsman Digital Printing, "Advances in Digital Printing Inks and Technology"

Prof. Thomas Gries, ITA-RWTH, "Latest Developments in Fabric Production"

Coffee Break

M. Wolfgang Schlide, Manager Competence Center Nonwovens, STFI Research Institute,"Latest Developments in Nonwovens Technology"

Dr. Walter Nassl, Director Technology and Project Management Chemicals, Huntsman,"Performance Chemicals for Advanced Textiles"

New Materials and Products - 27 September 2011 {1400-1730} Tuesday

This session is divided into two sub-sessions with a special focus on the latest information about protective textiles and smart textiles. There will be a Q&A period at the end of each sub-session. Part one will focus on new developments in protective textiles including Natick's Future Soldier Systems, Protective textiles in the Security industry and nonwovens based heat and flame protection materials.

Part two will focus on smart and interactive textiles. The presentations will analyze some success stories & bottlenecks in this field and discuss pitfalls in e-textiles area as well as describe the development of a commercial smart textiles product.

Andreas Roepert, Interactive Wear AG, "Smart and Interactive Textiles from the Electronics Industry Perspective"

Dr. Thomas Strauch, TexTrace AG, "Smart Textile Products - Woven RFID Labels"

Coffee Break

Jürgen Graf, Freudenberg Viliestoffe KG, "Nonwovens in Textiles for Heat and Flame Protection"

Alain Bujold, Mawashi Protection Clothing Inc., "Ergonomics, Biomimicry and Protective Textiles in the Security Industry"

Dr. Jan Laperre, Centexbel, "Smart and Interactive Textiles - Success Stories and Bottlenecks"

Q&A Forum and conference wrap-up

Conference Location

FIRA DE BARCELONA GRAN VIA

Conference Room: Nexe C Room 4.1 (Hall 4)

Av. Juan Carlos I, 58

08908 L' Hospitalet de Llobregat

Barcelona, Spain

For more information or to download the AT Europe '11 brochure visit www.advancedtextileseurope.com .