New Era, New Materials, New Momentum 2021 China Textile Innovation Annual Conference held in Changle

Edited by Zhao Xinhua

On May 20, “2021 China Textile Innovation Annual Conference and International Forum on New Functional Materials” was held in Changle District, Fuzhou City,Fujian Province. The conference focused on the theme of “New Era, New Materials, New Momentum”, the con—ference discussed new ideas and new paths for high—quality development of Changle textile industry during the 14th Five—Year Plan period from the perspective of national macro situation and industry top—level planning.The conference aims to actively help Changle build into the industry chain of new textile functional materials ex—change and cooperation platform, and gradually develop into a national key demonstration city of new textile functional materials.

Relevant leaders, experts and scholars at home and abroad, as well as industry representatives from interna—tionally renowned companies and Changle leading com—panies gathered together to talk about the current and future of new functional materials. Duan Xiaoping, vice president of China National Textile and Apparel Council,presided over the conference.

Lin Zhonglin, deputy mayor of Fuzhou Municipal People’s Government, delivered a speech at the confer—ence. He pointed out that since the reform and opening up, Fuzhou’s textile industry has developed rapidly. The output value has grown from more than 200 million yuan in 1986 to more than 290 billion yuan in 2020.and now it has formed an industrial system integrating chemical fiber, cotton spinning, warp knitting, clothing and textile machinery, and a number of leading enter—prises with strong influence at home and abroad have emerged. He said that in the next step, Fuzhou City will take building an industrial base as the goal, give full play to the advantages of rich data resources and broad ap—plication prospects in the textile industry, strengthen the leading role of new technologies such as the Internet and big data, expand the development and application of textiles, and cultivate and strengthen new drivers of industrial development.

Sun Ruizhe, president of China National Textile and Apparel Council and chairman of International Textile Manufacturers Federation, pointed out the four key points of building an industrial system centered on new fiber materials in his speech at the conference. The first is to persist in innovation—driven and accelerate the con—struction of leading and strategic technological advan—tages. The second is to adhere to intensive development and accelerate the construction of a large—scale and col—laborative manufacturing system. The third is to adhere to digital empowerment and accelerate the construction of flexible and lean supply capabilities. The fourth is to adhere to the green transformation and accelerate the construction of a sustainable and responsible industrial ecology.

Wang Zonghua, president of Minjiang University,delivered a speech at the conference. He introduced that Minjiang University, centering on Fuzhou’s textile and chemical fiber industry, has taken the lead in building a first—class textile and garment professional group cover—ing the entire industrial chain among colleges and uni—versities in the province, and has established the most complete textile and garment discipline in the province.The University has scientific research equipment with a complete industrial chain from textile materials to cloth—ing, and has formed distinctive features and advantages in research directions such as advanced textile materi—als, functional textile processing, and green dyeing and finishing. During the 14th Five—Year Plan period, the University will conduct in—depth cooperation with com—panies to carry out applied basic research.

Academician Zhu Meifang gave a speech on “In—novative Development and Industrial Opportunities of New Fiber Materials” at the International Forum on New Functional Materials. She interpreted the functional and intelligent progress of fiber materials from the three aspects of energy management of new fiber materials,green environmental protection and health and fashion,and focused on the evolution of fiber physical and chem—ical structure from simple heat preservation to smart energy conversion and storage, and put forward the development direction of fiber material functionalization,intelligence and flexibility.

At the forum, famous universities at home and abroad and well—known enterprises in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain interpreted and dis—cussed the development trend of new functional materi—als from the three dimensions of “science and technol—ogy, green and fashion”.

On the topic of science and technology, Profes—sor Gao Chao of the Department of Polymer Materials and Engineering of Zhejiang University and chairman of Hangzhou Gaoxi Tech Co., Ltd. introduced the use of the world’s unique single—layer graphene oxide core technology to develop single—layer graphene composite fiber with six major functions such as anti—bacterial,anti—virus, ultraviolet, anti—mite, far—infrared emission,and negative ion generation, namely graphene multi—functional health care fiber 4.0. Professor Wang Rui,dean of the School of Material Design and Engineering of Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, analyzed the key technologies and development trends of fiber flame retardant modification.

On the topic of green, Dr Mark Taylor, professor of the School of Design University of Leeds and an expert in functional clothing, explained the application and de—velopment of biodegradable materials in functional tex—tiles. Through the four stages of biodegradation and the cases of textile degradation in different environments,the influence of the important conditions of biodegrada—tion, such as temperature, moisture and microorganism,on the degradation rate was analyzed. Mei Zhen, general manager of the chemical fiber section of Highsun Hold—ing Group, shared the innovative development path of green and environmentally friendly fiber materials and the measures to promote the rise of new brands. He said in the “technology , fashion and green” under the grow—ing consumer demand, to improve the quality of species richness and satisfaction, brand awareness is the indus—try’s direction.

On the topic of fashion, Coloro® Chief Strategy Of—ficer Detlev Pross interpreted the new requirements of color development, color application and color workflow in the changing environment of the global textile and ap—parel industry. Coloro® China Applied Color System pro—vides innovative color solutions for trend/demand analy—sis, product development and sustainability through standardized workflows and applications. Chen Wen,president of Fujian Xinhuayuan Textile Group, shared the successful cases of upstream and downstream joint development in terms of functional product fiber category, spinning process, weaving application, fash—ion application, etc. He said that they will accelerate the development and application of functional environmen—tally friendly new materials. To guide the new concept of green fashion consumption is the inevitable choice to realize the sustainable development of the industry.Yang Zengxing, general manager of Karl Mayer (China)Co., Ltd., deeply analyzed the advantages of digital textile production process from the six links of management,innovation, production, maintenance, quality, and service,a comprehensive digital solution that perfectly addresses the imbalance between the rapid response requirements of the modern business environment and the limited human resources will lead the textile business into a new era of intelligent production.

The launching ceremony of the Nylon Fujian Index Project was held at the conference. Advised by the China National Textile and Apparel Council, Highsun Hold—ing Group and Eversun Jinjiang led the initiative to form an alliance of companies to regularly release the Nylon Fujian Index to maintain the steady development of the industry.

Meanwhile, Changle District Government New Ma—terial Industry Development Project Signing Ceremony and Changle District New Functional Material Project Signing Ceremony were also held at the conference.More than 20 units, domestic and foreign enterprises have signed 14 major cooperation projects, with a total investment of more than 20 billion yuan, such as “Stra—tegic Cooperation in the Development of New Functional Materials Industry and the 14th Five—Year Plan Project of Changle Textile New Materials”, “Rare Earth Modified Functional Textile Materials Research Center Project”,and “Highsun Holding Group Global R&D Central Project”and “Eversun Jinjiang Million Tons Intelligent and Func—tional Green Microfiber Project”.

Xu Jun, deputy head of the People’s Government of Changle District, Fuzhou City, introduced in an inter—view that in terms of industrial digitization, nearly 200 industrial enterprises in Changle District have connected to and used the industrial Internet, and cumulatively promoted intelligent transformation of projects with a total investment of 18.5 billion yuan. With the digital economy, the industrial output value of the textile and chemical fiber industry above designated size in Changle District is expected to exceed 220 billion yuan this year.In terms of digital industrialization, Changle Southeast Big Data Industrial Park shows a trend of agglomeration and development of a national—level big data industry. It has planned 265 key projects with a total investment of about 310 billion yuan.

The “2021 China Textile Innovation Annual Con—ference and International Forum on New Functional Materials” was held in Changle, Fuzhou, providing a new opportunity for Changle to focus on strategic emerging industries such as new textile materials, expand the de—velopment and application of functional textiles, cultivate new drivers of industrial development, and achieve sci—entific and technological innovation, green development,and high—quality leadership.