Who we are

The core mis­sion of the Tex­tile ETP is to strength­en and ensure the long-term com­pet­i­tive­ness of the Euro­pean tex­tile and cloth­ing indus­try through col­lab­o­ra­tive research and inno­va­tion at the Euro­pean level.

To reinforce the position of Europe as a leading global player in the development and manufacturing of fibres, textiles, textile-based products, and apparel, the Textile ETP pursues the following key objectives:

🤝 The organisation of an effective European-wide expert network involving industry, research organisations, public authorities, financial institutions, and other stakeholders to join forces and coordinate their efforts in research, development, and innovation to benefit the European Textile and Clothing Industry.

⚙️ The definition of common industrial strategies and implementation of a Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) through targeted collaborative research, technology development, and innovation efforts within the textile sector and in cooperation with related industries.

💡 The development of structures and measures to improve this industrial sector's overall research, development, and innovation framework conditions focuses specifically but not exclusively on removing financial, educational, legal, and regulatory obstacles.

Overall, the European Technology Platform for the Future of Textiles and Clothing will remain focused on allocating its resources to the most promising fields of R&D and innovation action activities to ensure long-term industry competitiveness for the benefit of economic growth, jobs and sustainable development in Europe. It will continue to operate openly and transparently, inviting every organisation and individual interested in research, development, and innovation across Europe to join its activities.

The future of Europe’s textile and clothing industry will be built on its existing strengths (1) creativity in design and product development, (2) innovation in materials and processes, (3) flexibility in production and supply chain management, and (4) quality of products and services.

The Textile ETP is based on three pillars, which at the same time represent the three crucial elements of a long-term vision that will exploit these strengths while at the same time benefiting from general societal and economic trends:

🧶 A move from commodities towards specialty products from high-tech processes along the entire value chain from fibres to final products with highly functional, purpose-targeted properties;

🧵 The establishment and expansion of textile as a material of choice in many sectors and application fields (transport systems, construction, energy & environment markets, protective & medical applications, consumer electronics…);

🪡 A move towards a new industrial era characterised by customisation, personalisation, as well as flexible, on-demand production coupled with intelligent logistics, distribution, and services.

Euro­pean Tech­nol­o­gy Plat­forms (ETPs) are open net­works of research and inno­va­tion stake­hold­ers in a par­tic­u­lar sec­tor or tech­nol­o­gy domain.

The cre­ation of Euro­pean Tech­nol­o­gy Plat­forms wares encour­aged by the Euro­pean Union in the ear­ly 2000s to serve as a sin­gle voice and rep­re­sen­ta­tive of a Euro­pean sec­toral inno­va­tion com­mu­ni­ty pro­vid­ing guid­ance to pol­i­cy mak­ers in the design and man­age­ment of research and inno­va­tion sup­port pro­grammes.

Today, over 30 ETPs across all types of indus­tries and tech­nol­o­gy domains are active in Europe. The Tex­tile ETP was part of the first wave of ETPs launched in 2004.