2. Summary of data results from the Survey

The aim of this survey is to produce a state-of-the-art report on Technical and Smart Textiles in a number of European countries, based on data collected from 63 Textile enterprises in Belgium (10), Czech Republic (10), Portugal (12), Romania (21) and Slovenia (10).

Each individual country is represented by these institution:

 

Belgium – Uni Ghent

Czech Republic – TZU

Portugal – TecMinho

Romania – TU Iasi, INCDTP

Slovenia – Uni Maribor

 

This survey identifies existing opportunities for producing smart textiles in enterprises and forecasting expected occupations and work profiles for young trainees.

A methodology of Best Practice Research (BPR) has been developed, based on a questionnaire survey, which was commonly prepared by the project’s partners and included aspects related to:

  • Analyzing the interest and capacity of textile enterprises to perform smart and technical textiles.
  • Finding the profile and the number of the workplaces needed by the textile industry.
  • Identifying the availability of textile enterprises to organize one-day visits with VET students or practical training.
  • Transferring the guide towards important stakeholders, such as: VET schools, professional associations, enterprises, regional educational agencies.

 

The results will be published in a guide meant for transferring smart practices from enterprises to Vocational Education and Training (VET) schools and young students. Providing real life prototypes and multi-disciplinary working activities on smart textiles will make textile occupations more attractive to young students, and will improve knowledge, skills and employability of VET students in STEM related fields (STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

The questionnaire includes a total of 33 questions, some are Multiple Answering Questions where the respondent can choose between a rose of alternatives, other questions are using a Likert scale, with selectable values from 0 to 5.

For common understanding of terms in what concerns technical and smart textiles, the example of a t-shirt was provided to respondents:

Level 0 = basic standard t-shirt

Level 1 = functional t-shirt with thermal properties or antibacterial functions

Level 2 = t-shirt with passive smart properties e.g. Phase Change Materials (PCM), colour change

Level 3 = t-shirt with attached components (sensors – heart rate, temperature…)

Level 4 = t-shirt with embedded components (communication sensors like GPS)

The research was based on high-value added smart textile products from industries in the partners countries to understand the current development and the innovation in the textile sector.

 

The data gathered from the survey will be used to identify the sources sites, namely the textile enterprises providing profiles for high value-added workplaces for young trainees.