UPC in Terrassa creates the Innotex Center, Catalan R & D center for integrated European textile industry

60 highly skilled technicians and researchers, with 16 doctors. 4,450 m² facilities. Collaboration with more than 1,000 companies. Over 50% of projects directly with industry. Presence in international networks representing the sector. A know-howtechnology with more than 20 registered patents.

The Technical University of Catalonia· BarcelonaTech (UPC) Innotex Center has created a center of R & D service-oriented technological innovation integral to companies in the textile and other industries that need their products and processes in the presence of textile technology, and environmental toxicology. Center Innotex arises from the union of three major R & D groups in the textile industry of the University: Institute of Textile Research and Industrial Cooperation (INTEXTER), the Center for Technology Innovation and Research Centre CTF and Innovation in Toxicology (CRIT).

The objectives of the Center are Innotex together the expertise, the know-how and assets of the three research centers in the textile industry that is in UPC, strengthen research and technology transfer to the private sector, encourage collaboration with industry and institutions, both public and private provide a comprehensive textile technological innovation, environmental and toxicological.

Innotex Center offers businesses the amount of knowledge and expertise generated during the three decades of business research groups are involved. The biggest companies in the textile sector such as Inditex, DuPont, BASF, Ikea, Clariant, Stephen Meroil, Aeroengineering, Seat or Fagor, among others, have worked with one of three groups that make up this new center R & D UPC.

In fact, these three research groups have achieved very positive results of collaboration with industry and some examples are the European Modsintex to improve productivity in the manufacturing of technical textiles, shirt and socks that eliminate the The smell of sweat, the design and manufacture of proprietary technology and a pioneer in a controlled manner to produce nanofiber textiles, creating a system for robotic surgical suture colon,recovery of indigo dye, the recycling of the dye bath with reactive dyes or defining biomarkers of contamination of ecosystems and kit for evaluating soil contamination.

A wide range of performance

The scope of Innotex Center is very broad because it includes companies that manufacture products or implement processes that have to do with the latest technology and environmental textiles such as automotive, healthcare, security and prevention, aeronautics, chemicals, ceramics, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, environmental analytics, the manufacturers of detergents and surfactants.

In this sense, Innotex Center defines together with the companies R & D and technology transfer; personally advises companies on design, production, quality and feasibility studies, designs and manufactures textile structures, offers workshops to develop new products, performs analysis and prepares reports as a laboratory accredited according to ISO 17025 and develops control activities, reports and surveys by companies as laboratories certified under ISO 9001. It also performs toxicity tests, ecotoxicology (GLP / GLP) and evaluates the safety of products and processes.

Comprehensive technological capability

Technological capacity of Innotex Center is complete and conforms to three main areas, which are textile technology, microbiology, toxicology and environmental health and environmental engineering.

As for the textile technology, Innotex Center works on the structure and properties of textile materials, biotechnology projects in elastic filaments, woven and nonwoven structures and the creation of new innovative fiber properties. It also develops smart textiles, micro-and nanostructures application of microcapsules that add new properties to fabrics, innovative spinning processes, and finally the construction of textile machinery such as measuring and control equipment.

In terms of toxicology and environmental health and microbiology, the Innotex Center offers its capacity for innovation in processes where control is necessary toxicological, microbiological and environmental, safety and development of new products according to European directives, the detection of toxic agents in water and sanitation strategies and the study of cellular changes caused by the action of drugs, pollutants and microorganisms. Toxicity, biochemistry, biosensors and biomarkers are also lines of action of this new research center.

Environmental engineering is the third leg of Innotex Center. In this area, researchers at the Polytechnic studying in plant process improvement, production and recycling of wastewater, determine levels of contamination, working on chemical safety of textiles, study the biodegradation of chemicals and develop advanced treatment of industrial wastewater treatment technology and against water pollution.

In Europe there are 146,000 registered textile companies that had a turnover of 182,000 million last year and employs about 2 million people. In this context industrial economy, the Center Innotex born with a European and international level. In fact, the three groups that make up this center are present in major international industry networks.

Innotex Center is part of the Center for Innovation and Technology UPC (UPC CIT), which links all technology centers UPC network members TECNIO Generalitat of Catalonia.