Nowadays, the European textile industry is a world leader in the sector. Textiles and clothing is a diverse sector that plays an important role in the European manufacturing industry, employing 1.7 million people in 2018 and producing a turnover of €166 billion. The sector has undergone radical change recently to maintain its competitiveness by moving towards high value-added products.

The transport industry “directly employs around 10 million people and accounts for about 5% of gross domestic product (GDP)”; the role of transport in all companies in general and its impact on competitiveness at the international level should be also considered in order to scope the importance of this sector adequately.

Sustainability and competitiveness are the most important concerns for textile, transport and plastic industries. In this sense, SMEs and large companies working on solutions for raising the environmental sustainability and responsibility play a major role in preventing their decay against the four Asian Dragons. Safety and security industries in Europe are also crucial for the EXTRATEX ecosystem. And EXTRATEX is a tool to actually trigger the development of sustainable and responsible solutions for the manufacturing industry of the three sectors, as well as the final products offered to the market, to foster industrial modernisation and safeguard environment and natural resources.

The European plastic industry nowadays presents specific challenges as regards its competitiveness and the employability of their staff at long-term and it should be mentioned. However, environmental responsibility and recycling processes are the most important concerns for the European Plastic industry. Thus and consequently, the new role of the European biomaterial industries is to sustain the industry transformation; to do so, it is urgently needed new mechanisms and more resources and efforts for knowledge transfer and exchange of experiences and best practices. Grandview Market research stated that “the global biomaterial market size is expected to reach USD 250.4 billion by 2025, exhibiting a CAGR of 14.7% during the forecast period”; the EU also plays an important role at International level, stressing the German and British industries.

Clusters in Europe, and also EXTRATEX, are committed to support new solutions to fight current sanitary emergency. Connect, liaise and solve. Visit www.clustercollaboration.eu/coronavirus