Periodic Reporting for period 2 - smartX (Accelerating Smart Textile Entrepreneurship by Innovative Cross-regional, Cross-disciplinary and Cross-cultural Value Chains)
Reporting period: 2020-11-01 to 2022-04-30
SmartX is a cascading funding project funded under the EU’s HORIZON 2020 Programme, call Innosup-01-2018 for cluster facilitated projects for new industrial value chains.
Smart Textiles, defined as textiles with integrated electronic functionalities, represent an emerging market which according to various international studies has the potential into growing into a multi-billion Euro opportunity over the coming years. An estimate produced by EURATEX - the European Apparel and Textile Confederation pegs the value of this market in the EU alone at € 1.5 billion in 2023.
Europe is in a world-leading position in terms of textile research, technology development and industry innovation and also has a highly sophisticated and innovative microelectronics, IoT and software sector. Smart textile products are expected to be able to provide high added value solutions for consumers and professional customers in a broad range of end markets such as healthcare, sports & protection, defence and transport, construction and interiors and others.
Realising a true market breakthrough for smart textiles requires collaboration between researchers, technology developers, manufacturers, service providers and end customers from many disciplines. In addition the current smart textile innovators are scattered across Europe, often start-ups or SMEs with limited internal resources, need to build innovation and business development partnerships across borders and along the value chain. A specific problem is the lack of industrial manufacturing capacities for smart textiles due to the highly complex nature of multi-material joining and assembly and the currently too small volumes of smart textiles.
The SmartX project contributed to overcoming these challenges by selecting, funding and coaching a portfolio of 25 high-potential SME-led projects innovating in the field of smart textiles addressing the health and well-being, sports, protection or industrial end markets.
A specific emphasis was put on projects which favourably impacted the emerging industrial manufacturing value chain for smart textiles in Europe.
A special role was played by the cluster organisations making up a significant share of the SmartX consortium. They were instrumental in identifying and reaching out to promising SMEs, coaching them during the project application and implementation work and helping them to valorise their results through exploitation coaching and dissemination activities.
Smart Textiles, defined as textiles with integrated electronic functionalities, represent an emerging market which according to various international studies has the potential into growing into a multi-billion Euro opportunity over the coming years. An estimate produced by EURATEX - the European Apparel and Textile Confederation pegs the value of this market in the EU alone at € 1.5 billion in 2023.
Europe is in a world-leading position in terms of textile research, technology development and industry innovation and also has a highly sophisticated and innovative microelectronics, IoT and software sector. Smart textile products are expected to be able to provide high added value solutions for consumers and professional customers in a broad range of end markets such as healthcare, sports & protection, defence and transport, construction and interiors and others.
Realising a true market breakthrough for smart textiles requires collaboration between researchers, technology developers, manufacturers, service providers and end customers from many disciplines. In addition the current smart textile innovators are scattered across Europe, often start-ups or SMEs with limited internal resources, need to build innovation and business development partnerships across borders and along the value chain. A specific problem is the lack of industrial manufacturing capacities for smart textiles due to the highly complex nature of multi-material joining and assembly and the currently too small volumes of smart textiles.
The SmartX project contributed to overcoming these challenges by selecting, funding and coaching a portfolio of 25 high-potential SME-led projects innovating in the field of smart textiles addressing the health and well-being, sports, protection or industrial end markets.
A specific emphasis was put on projects which favourably impacted the emerging industrial manufacturing value chain for smart textiles in Europe.
A special role was played by the cluster organisations making up a significant share of the SmartX consortium. They were instrumental in identifying and reaching out to promising SMEs, coaching them during the project application and implementation work and helping them to valorise their results through exploitation coaching and dissemination activities.
The main results of SmartX include:
- € 2.35 million of lump-sum based direct financial support allocated to 25 smart textile Trailblazer innovation projects involving 50 SMEs from 17 European countries
- The dedication of an additional € 1.74 million to indirect SME support such as customised individual and collective coaching to over 150 SMEs expressing interest in, applying for or implementing SmartX Trailblazer project
- In total over 82% of the EU funding provided to the SmartX project was either directly or indirectly dedicated to SME support
- A community of over 800 smart textile experts and related professional that is regularly interacting and steadily growing across Europe
- A community platform incl. a members directory, an inquiries function, a knowledge base and an SME self-assessment tool for smart textile innovation readiness
- Over 50 knowledge-sharing and partnership-building events, workshops and webinars incl. a final event with over 170 participants
- A Smart Textiles Value Chain map describing all stages and actors that need to be orchestrated to successfully design, manufacture and market smart textile products
- Policy recommendations on how to effectively support SME’s and start-ups in cross-sectoral high-tech manufacturing innovation through accelerator funding, expert coaching and brokerage activities
- Best practices for innovation cluster management and SME support services
- € 2.35 million of lump-sum based direct financial support allocated to 25 smart textile Trailblazer innovation projects involving 50 SMEs from 17 European countries
- The dedication of an additional € 1.74 million to indirect SME support such as customised individual and collective coaching to over 150 SMEs expressing interest in, applying for or implementing SmartX Trailblazer project
- In total over 82% of the EU funding provided to the SmartX project was either directly or indirectly dedicated to SME support
- A community of over 800 smart textile experts and related professional that is regularly interacting and steadily growing across Europe
- A community platform incl. a members directory, an inquiries function, a knowledge base and an SME self-assessment tool for smart textile innovation readiness
- Over 50 knowledge-sharing and partnership-building events, workshops and webinars incl. a final event with over 170 participants
- A Smart Textiles Value Chain map describing all stages and actors that need to be orchestrated to successfully design, manufacture and market smart textile products
- Policy recommendations on how to effectively support SME’s and start-ups in cross-sectoral high-tech manufacturing innovation through accelerator funding, expert coaching and brokerage activities
- Best practices for innovation cluster management and SME support services
After the end of the SmartX project, the Smart Textiles Innovation Community will be combined with the European Masterclass on Smart Textiles Innovation, managed by SmartX coordinator Textile ETP. This subscription-based community will become THE European reference point for networking, knowledge sharing, open innovation and collaborative project development on smart textiles and thereby maintain and replicate the results achieved during SmartX. This new community will be also hosted and managed by the Textile ETP.
The successful implementation of the SmartX project and the significant and lasting impact it had on the supported SMEs and the European smart textiles community as a whole, is proof that the integrated cascading funding and coaching concept implemented through the Innosup-01 scheme is a highly effective and cost-efficient way of support cross-sectoral SME innovation in growing and emerging product and service markets. The lessons learned from SmartX and similar projects should encourage European policy makers to replicate and extend this effective tool in future research, innovation, technology transfer and investment inducing programmes.
The successful implementation of the SmartX project and the significant and lasting impact it had on the supported SMEs and the European smart textiles community as a whole, is proof that the integrated cascading funding and coaching concept implemented through the Innosup-01 scheme is a highly effective and cost-efficient way of support cross-sectoral SME innovation in growing and emerging product and service markets. The lessons learned from SmartX and similar projects should encourage European policy makers to replicate and extend this effective tool in future research, innovation, technology transfer and investment inducing programmes.