In line with the European Strategic Agenda for Innovation and Research for the Textile and Clothing Industry through Horizon 2025, AITEX defines its research projects according to these strategic topics. The Strategic Agenda identifies and describes the most important strategic areas of innovation for the textile industry and its corresponding research priorities within the horizon of the next few years, up to 2025. The Agenda has identified four essential Strategic Innovation Areas, for their particular impact on the development of the textile and clothing industry:

I. New high-performance and functionalised textile materials.

II. Advanced manufacturing and digitalisation (industry 4.0) of value chains and business models

III. Circular economy and resource efficiency

IV. High value-added solutions for growing strategic markets

From the point of view of new high-performance and functionalised textile materials, AITEX has ongoing research along two lines:

• Research and development of an economic model based on the revaluation of waste / by-products among the main productive sectors of the Valencian Community, through the CIRCLE Project.

Valencian industry generates different types of waste of varying characteristics causing a serious problem of environmental contamination. To address this, the CIRCLE project focuses on researching waste revaluation solutions in different Valencian industrial sectors to establish a circular economy model.

• R&D of new monofilaments using advanced high-performance biopolymers. VOLFIL

Through the VOLFIL project, continuous monofilaments will be developed from bio-polymers with inorganic fillers with dual functionality: to increase the mechanical properties of the material and provide skin tissue regenerative properties for use in 3D printing for biomedicine. On the other hand, circular bi-component core / sheath monofilaments and other special geometries with applications in sensorisation will be developed.

These two projects have the support of the Conselleria d’Economia Sostenible, Sectors Productius, Comerç i Treball of the Generalitat Valenciana, through IVACE.