Premiere for new trade fair concept SALTEX - Smart Textiles and Lightweight Materials

Dornbirn. As a pioneer in launching innovative trade fair concepts Messe Dornbirn has finally scheduled the SALTEX premiere for 2016. The new concept was developed in consensus with leading representatives from industry, politics and research. SALTEX will take place October 5-6, 2016 in the new exhibition halls. The focus
of the new community-platform for smart textiles and fibre-reinforced composites as well as their industrial automation is on interdisciplinary knowledge transfer and bringing together and interlinking both sectors through progressive networking. Intelligent textiles as well as fibre-reinforced composites for lightweight structures are both growth sectors and cross-cutting issues of key importance for the future. They will strengthen the industry in global competition. Recent market studies forecast for both sectors considerable growth and increasing market significance. According to NanoMarkets the market size of smart clothing will increase until 2021 to 1,8 billion US-Dollar.* Lightweight structures are most likely to achieve a global market size of around 140 billion Euro in 2020 with an average growth rate of 7-8 percent according to recent studies. The main driver of growth is the transport sector.**
SALTEX - Community-Platform for Smart Textiles as well as fibre-reinforced composites and their industrial automation is taking into account the multifarious bilateral touch points of both industries and takes full advantage of synergetic effects with regards to speeding up the implementation of automation technologies for mass- production. 
Patrick Malang BSc, Project management SALTEX Messe Dornbirn: “Stakeholders from industry and research approached us, since the business location Vorarlberg covers the entire value chain for the production of technologically advanced fibre-reinforced composites. The textile industry that is located here since several generations has undergone dramatic structural adjustments in the past two decades and has now evolved to a high tech industry with global networking and truly committed to actively shape the future."

"In consensus with our advisory board we are determined to bring together the various already successfully operating clusters,networks and cooperations in the area of smart textiles and industrial lightweight structures.Our goal is to bring them together every two years for a personal exchange between experts of both fields. We offer the platform, inspire and empower the counterparts in order to enhance a stronger interlinking of both value chains. One of the prime issues is the following: How can we contribute to see the market share of smart textiles and fibrereinforced composites grow by speeding up automation processes.“

Business location four-country region
The business location Vorarlberg as part of the four-country region Bodensee with the neighbouring countries Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein is considered as the „textile Silicon Valley“ and offers ideal preconditions for the new trade-fair project. With still 180 embroidery factories Vorarlberg is worldwide the fourth most important area for embroidery. As one of the finest finishing techniques technical embroidery is facing exciting new applications. Sensors are applied to surfaces by embroidering, conductivity is produced or textile batteries developped. The Institute of textile chemistry and textile physics in Dornbirn as a satellite of the university of Innsbruck is substantially involved in this development. 450 Austrian enterprises with 23,500 employees generate an annual turnover of 2,1 billion Euro. Technical textiles account for 50 per cent of the production.
Apart from this already very active and successful nucleus, SALTEX is geared to exhibitors and visitors from the neighbouring countries as well as experts from all over Europe