ITA Group offers new pre-competitive partnership model for industrial companies

“We are very happy to initiate this new partnership model where science, research and industry are working shoulder to shoulder in pre-competitive projects on our future projects along the entire value-chain from the fibre to the final component in order to close a missing gap and form innovative paths forward in various industrial fields.”

The ITA Group (West Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.), consisting of the Institute for Textile Technology of RWTH Aachen University (Germany) and its research and development (R&D) service provider, ITA Technologietransfer GmbH (Aachen, Germany), has decided to install a partnership model beginning January 2022, in order to better respond to actual industrial demands and needs.

The ITA Group comprises the ITA of RWTH Aachen University, a leading research and qualification research institute with 400 employees in the areas of fiber-based, high-performance materials, and textile semi-finished products and their manufacturing processes. ITA Technologietransfer, the partner of the industry in R&D, provides technology and knowledge transfer, and offers comprehensive solutions along the entire textile value chain.

“The impact of the COVID-19-crisis has shown once more the importance of long-term, trustworthy business relationships,” Prof. Dr. Thomas Gries, director of ITA, explains the new partnership model. “Therefore, we are establishing our new partnership model where we will even more closely cooperate with our actual and future industrial partners, providing them with the latest technologies and innovations from the R&D side. We will initiate networking and workgroup meetings, offer access to ITA’s large machine parks and labs, carry out joint partner projects and commonly organized publicly funded projects as well as training for partners, employees and HR opportunities.”

According to Dr. Michael Effing, managing director of AMAC GmbH (Aachen), ITA is a one-stop source for composite solutions, from the fiber to the cost-efficient manufacturing of final parts. “The ITA is in the center of the RWTH Aachen University Campus in close proximity to 10 other institutes for lightweight composites and e-mobility,” Effing adds. “In the context of COVID-19, it makes sense to bundle forces.”

During ITA’s Innovation days event in September, the group successfully introduced some of the first industrial partner projects which will be carried out under this model, among them “Recycling of composite battery cases,” “Recycling of composite pressure vessels,” “Natural fiber composites,” “Textile structures with focus on biaxial warp-knitted structures,” “Factory of the future,” and “Tapes and hybrid yarns.”

As an official partner of the trade show, the next opportunity to meet with ITA is at JEC DACH in Frankfurt, Germany, Nov. 23-24, 2021 (November 23 and 24 2021). The partnership model will officially be kicked off on Jan. 25, 2022 in Aachen, Germany. Further information will follow.