TEXMEDIN
In today’s knowledge economy, technological know-how is a powerful drive for economic growth. Mediterranean industrial economies need transition to the knowledge economy in order to improve their competitiveness. At the same time, creativity and design are key strategic assets to increase attractiveness of commercial goods. Competitiveness can no more be confined to sheer reduction of costs but should be enhanced by the application of new technologies and research in order to generate greater added value even in traditional economic sectors. Textiles and Apparel (T&A) is a major sector of the Mediterranean economy. On the other hand, many areas with long-standing vocation to T&A production suffer from decline due to fierce global competition and lack of investments in innovation in this sector. The TEXMEDIN project aims to rethink T&A development strategies by creating a transnational cluster to valorise the existing technical know-how and T&A creative heritage of these areas. It aims to formulate new approaches and methodologies to support higher levels of technological and non- technological innovation as well as improved design patterns in the T&A clusters and value chain. It will design new measures to train emerging T&A designers and entrepreneurs by valorising the sectoral know-how and creative background in collaboration with existing service centers and business supporting organisations.