£4M FUNDING APPROVED FOR TECHNICAL TEXTILES PROGRAMME

As many readers will be aware, the ‘Textiles Forward’ Technical Textiles Group has been meeting at the Centre for over 12 months.  The Group has developed a proposal that has now been approved by West Yorkshire Enterprise Partnership. The project, ‘The Technology Capacity Building Programme’ will assist manufacturers in West Yorkshire to develop their technological capacity to secure new market opportunities by providing access to leading edge technologies for manufacturing innovative, high value added materials for use in the production of composites, and other advanced industrial applications. 

 The Programme, which will receive funding of £4 million, will also support short-life R&D projects bringing together local manufacturing companies and Universities into strong collaborative partnerships, to develop and take new products to market, working very closely with the composite suppliers and end users.  This unique series of collaborative projects will be the key ingredient for transferring new developments from the laboratory to the marketplace.

There are 3 elements to the Programme:

1. The establishment of a joint focus for technology transfer activity in the fields of composites and technical textiles.  A tendering process will identify the key strengths and capabilities of the research and development organisations that will be focused through a dedicated resource to offer workshops, seminars, business technology analysis, publicity, advertising and case studies to raise awareness of development opportunities.

2. The development of new research and manufacturing capacity:  The project will identify and secure new manufacturing equipment to enable the development and prototyping of new advanced materials in the following areas:

• Fabric characterisation.
• Forming complex fabric structures and shapes; resin impregnation.
• Joining and assembly of pre-forms using sewing, ultrasonic / laser welding and other technologies.
• Designing and modelling of complex structures and shapes.
• Simulating and testing fabric structures.

3.  Industry Development Projects:  A key focus of the project will be a concentration of dedicated activity featuring partnerships between research and development organisations and textile manufacturers.  A series of 50 company-based development projects will accelerate the exploitation of new materials into the creation of new products.  These projects will involve potential industry end users and each will feature a tight remit to deliver outcomes in relatively short timescales that will be meaningful to the industry partners.  Activities are likely to include:

• Rapid prototyping and small production runs.
• Feasibility studies and small scale market testing of product samples.
• Support in the validation of new design, manufacturing and testing technologies, by the machinery and composites manufacturers and their supply chains.

The project should receive final Yorkshire Forward approval by September 2005, but due to current funding constraints is unlikely to be able to draw down funds before April 2006. 

For further details please contact Bill Macbeth.