Funding approved: Textile Factory 7.0 to be built in Mönchengladbach

Textile Factory 7.0 – the vision of a networked, emission-free industrial park of the future for the city of Mönchengladbach is becoming reality. The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) has approved funding for the project.

The aim of the project is to establish a technology and development centre in Mönchengladbach and thus develop an industrial park of the future. Instead of considering individual technologies in isolation, Textile Factory 7.0 combines energy efficiency, AI/robotics and biotechnology in a single functional textile real-world laboratory under the close cooperation of industry and research.

The project will make a decisive contribution to sustainably increasing the attractiveness and productivity of regional textile production: the T7 Factory will create new jobs and strengthen innovative textile research at the location.

The kick-off will take place as a networking event on 19 March 2026. Industry players will then work on common issues relating to the future topics of the T7 Factory: on-demand manufacturing, microfactory engineering, digital textiles and biosphere. The ITA's technical experts will be available as contact persons for the topics of microfactory engineering and digital textiles. If you are interested in cooperation or insights into the progress of the project, you can register here.

The project partners are the ITA – Institute of Textile Technology at RWTH Aachen University, the Research Institute for Textiles and Clothing at the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, the Association of the North-West German Textile and Clothing Industry, the Association of the Rhenish Textile and Clothing Industry, the Textile Academy NRW and Wirtschaftsförderung Mönchengladbach GmbH.