From the Sector

Oritain announced the expansion of its services into leather. This development will enable the fashion, luxury fashion and automotive industries to meet the rising demand for traceability, sustainability, and regulatory compliance.

Oritain’s proprietary methodology already trusted across apparel, food and agriculture, can now verify the geographic origin of leather from key producing countries across Europe, Africa and South America.1 This capability is increasingly vital as regulations like the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) are enforced and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) mandates a Digital Product Passport. Such regulations require companies to disclose traceability information that proves their supply chains are transparent and ethically sourced.

The global leather goods market is projected to grow from $493 billion in 2025 to $904 billion in 2035, according to Future Market Insights (FMI, 2025). Meanwhile, the luxury leather goods segment alone is expected to generate over $66 billion in revenue in 2025, as reported by Statista (2025). These growth figures underscore the growing pressure on brands to demonstrate responsible sourcing.

“Leather sourcing is facing heightened scrutiny for its environmental and human rights impacts” said Alyn Franklin, CEO of Oritain. “Our origin verification programs give brands and tanneries the insights they need to make meaningful changes in their supply chain, meet regulatory obligations and build lasting trust with their customers.”

Traceability is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a strategic imperative. Regulatory frameworks are tightening, and consumer expectations are shifting towards transparency, sustainability, and ethical practices. Brands that fail to meet these standards risk reputational damage, legal consequences, and loss of consumer trust.

Oritain’s extensive origin database and forensic expertise provide a unique solution for brands navigating increasingly complex supply chains. The service is designed to verify sourcing claims made by intermediaries and tanneries, enabling brands to identify deforestation and labour risks, supporting end-to-end supply chain mapping. Whether it’s bespoke handbags, premium footwear, or high-end automotive interiors, Oritain’s product origin verification is tailored to meet the unique needs of the fashion and automotive sectors, offering both precision and adaptability.

This launch follows Oritain’s recent expansion into the timber industry, another commodity highly relevant to concerns surrounding deforestation and subject to scrutiny by regulators. This broader business expansion into new sectors reflects Oritain’s commitment to innovation, and its role in helping clients set new standards for transparency and accountability.

“Our customers are looking for ways to get visibility into their supply chains. Extending our service to leather means we can stand alongside them and have a positive impact on the wider industry, delivering on our vision of being the source of truth in global supply chains” said Paul Bentham, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Oritain.
 
1 Argentina, Nigeria, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Turkey, Albania, France, Netherlands, UK, Germany.

Teijin Carbon Europe GmbH announces an important change in its executive leadership. Effective October 1, 2025, Dr. Bernd Wohlmann will step down from his role as CEO after seven successful years leading the company.

Dr. Wohlmann has played a key role in shaping the development of Teijin Carbon Europe. Under his leadership, the company has achieved significant milestones and navigated through challenging times with resilience and strategic foresight. Discussions regarding his future role within the Teijin Group are currently ongoing.

Moving forward, Takaya Miyano and Jörg Friedrich will continue to lead Teijin Carbon Europe as Managing Directors. 

Teijin Carbon, a subsidiary of the Teijin Group, specializes in the development and production of carbon fibers and carbon fiber-based materials. Under the brands Tenax™ and Tenax Next™, Teijin Carbon offers high-performance material solutions for industries such as aerospace, automotive, energy, electronics, civil engineering and sporting goods.

Global diversified manufacturer Milliken & Company has acquired the assets of Highland Industries, Inc. in Cheraw, South Carolina. The transaction strengthens Milliken’s domestic operations and position in technical textiles.

“This acquisition bolsters the capabilities of Milliken’s technical textiles business to benefit our customers,” said Halsey Cook, president and CEO of Milliken. “We remain committed to the U.S. textile industry and grounded in our belief that precision manufacturing of innovative, high-performance materials is crucial for industrial resilience.”

The Highland facility will become a hub for Milliken’s technical textile weaving and knitting capabilities in the region.

“In addition to reinforcing current operations, acquiring Highland adds new offerings to the technical textiles portfolio,” said Allen Jacoby, EVP and president of Milliken’s technical textiles business. “Highland provides important assets to help us better serve our customers and opens the door to new growth opportunities.” 

Developed by Stanford researchers, NeuroString is a hair-thin multichannel biosensor and stimulator with promising potential applications in drug delivery, nerve stimulation, smart fabrics, and more.
 

• NeuroString is a small, soft fiber that is made of skin-like material and can host hundreds to thousands of electronic channels.
• The hope is that NeuroString could be implanted in the body to sense chemicals, deliver drugs, stimulate muscles or nerves, and monitor bodily activity.
• Outside the body, this invention could enable new smart fabrics, wearable devices, and soft robotics. It could also enhance study of lab-grown tissues.
• So far, researchers have used NeuroString to monitor the intestines of a pig and to observe individual neurons in the brain of a mouse.

Stanford pediatric surgeon James Dunn specializes in helping children with short gut syndrome, a congenital disease in which children are born with short intestinal tracts. “I’ve been working to grow new intestinal tissue by applying a mechanical force to the intestine – stretching it,” Dunn, who is a professor of surgery in the School of Medicine, explained. “But I didn’t have a way to demonstrate that this new tissue is functioning exactly like normal intestine.”

That is when Dunn reached out to Zhenan Bao, the K.K. Lee Professor of Chemical Engineering and director of the Stanford Wearable Electronics Initiative (eWEAR), who has drawn worldwide attention for developing skinlike electrical circuits, like her electronic skin that can sense the weight of a butterfly and the heat of a flame. The result of their collaboration is NeuroString, a multichannel, soft, thread-like implantable biosensor/stimulator.

NeuroString is just a quarter of a millimeter in diameter – about the width of a human hair – and can host hundreds to thousands of independent electronic “channels,” each of which can sense neurochemicals, stimulate muscle or nerve, sense gut movement patterns, or monitor the activity of a single neuron, among many other promising possibilities. 

Unmet needs
“There is great need, in both research and clinical settings, for these minimally invasive sensing and stimulation bioelectronics,” said co-author Xiang Qian, co-director of Stanford’s eWear Initiative and a medical doctor who specializes in neuromodulation to treat severe pain. Currently, clinical tools boil down to rigid and bulky needlelike probes or stiff wires with limited functionality.

“It is a high-density electronic fiber that’s also exceptionally biocompatible due to its softness,” Qian said. “It can stay inside the body for months at a time or longer, and it’s so soft and small that it can be implanted without discomfort or harm to the patient.”

Beyond the thin and soft circuitry, Bao’s team also developed a clever roll-up fabrication technique. They prepared a video of the method that shows a prototype with 20 electronic channels laid out on a thin, transparent skin-like material. The film is then rolled tightly into a spindle so thin it is described as one-dimensional. All 20 electrical connecting wires in the example are spiraled inside the string, like the layers in a Swiss roll, while the 20 sensors are exposed on the surface. Each independent sensor/stimulator is connected by a discrete wire running the length of the NeuroString to deliver valuable data.

Bao said the approach allows exquisite control of the positioning and distribution of the active components, and her team has demonstrated a fiber with a remarkable 1,280 individual channels. “Many more channels can be added if we make longer fibers,” says Muhammad Khatib, a postdoctoral fellow and first author on the paper.

New frontiers
On a practical front, to demonstrate the effectiveness of their new electronic fiber, Bao, Dunn, and team used the implanted NeuroString to monitor the intestines of a pig and to observe individual neurons in the brain of a mouse over four months.

Dunn explained that, in his field, measuring basic things like how the intestine contracts without interrupting normal activities may sound easy, but it has so far been out of reach, not to mention that the intestine also does a lot of things like absorbing nutrients and secreting biochemicals like serotonin that he might want to track.

“To be able to stimulate the muscle and measure all these other things in a specific region will be transformative for my research and, potentially, my medical practice – NeuroString is a platform for us to understand how the intestine works,” Dunn said.
 
The research team anticipates that such devices could have far-reaching impacts in fields ranging from neuroscience to gastroenterology. They envision that it could yield robotic pills that can be swallowed to diagnose medical conditions throughout the gastrointestinal tract or be wrapped around an optical fiber to create an ultra-thin endoscope.

Qian thinks NeuroString could introduce an era of minimally invasive, closed-loop neural stimulation techniques – devices that can both sense nerve dysfunction and intervene in an instant. “You only need to stimulate when you detect this abnormal electric signal to shut it down,” Qian said of his device, which he is currently testing in mice. “It will be ten times smaller than conventional alternatives and much safer with fewer complications. It would be groundbreaking.”

In a tubelike form, Bao says the NeuroString could deliver drugs to precise locations inside the body. Imagine a new form of implantable insulin pump that both senses blood sugar and delivers the life-sustaining hormone on demand, much like the pancreas.

In brain studies, NeuroString could deliver light for optogenetics and sense its effect on local neurons to optimize light intensity. And these potential applications are only the in-body opportunities for NeuroString. In other practical outlets, Bao said, NeuroString might lead to a new era of smart fabrics and textiles, wearable devices, and soft robotics.

Synthetic organs
One area of research that Bao finds particularly intriguing is organoids – lab-grown tissues that function like real tissue for use in research. Her team, together with Xiaoke Chen, associate professor of biology in the School of Humanities and Sciences, initially developed a NeuroString with only one neurochemical sensor seeded by Bio-X seed funding. The team’s initial development of this advanced NeuroString came under the aegis of the Brain Organogenesis Big Ideas in Neuroscience program at the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute.

The Brain Organogenesis program is pursuing new models of human brain circuits to understand how the brain develops and what is happening when things go wrong, as in numerous neurological and psychiatric diseases from depression to Parkinson’s disease. Bao said her NeuroString technology was inspired by the need for soft sensors that can be embedded inside the growing organoids that will allow researchers deeper insights into the function and biochemistry of these lab-grown mini-organlike structures to mimic human tissues.

“We hope to thread these thin electronics inside and throughout organoids, to promote and monitor their growth,” Bao said. “That’s our vision and it’s pretty exciting.”

After three days of facilitating meaningful exchange for numerous applications of technical textiles and nonwovens, Cinte Techtextil China 2025 concluded on 5 September at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. Feedback across the fairground was highly positive, especially from first-time exhibitors and buyers who valued the platform’s capability to create new opportunities both in China and overseas markets. The fair attracted nearly 20,000 visits from 74 countries and regions – a 17% increase from last year, and, as the most comprehensive edition ever in terms of product categories, visitors had much to explore. Major fringe events, such as the China International Nonwovens Conference (CINC), Econogy Tour, Sustainability Forum, and AI Panel, linked innovation and sustainability with industry demands, maximising reach and business opportunities for participants.

As Asia’s only dedicated show for the full spectrum of technical textiles and nonwovens, Cinte Techtextil China 2025 hosted over 300 global exhibitors, and welcomed a wide range of visitors, including sourcing decision-makers, textile & mechanical engineers, product developers, researchers, and more. The fair saw a significant rise in visitor pre-registrations, with international numbers increasing by over 40% compared to the previous edition. VIP buyers from across the globe attended the fair, as did 14 visitor delegations with over 250 participants. Some of the leading brands included domestic representatives from Kimberly-Clark (China), Li Auto, Li Ning, and L'Oréal (China); and international participants from Lego System (Denmark), Norafin Industries (Germany), Rockline Industries (USA), and Toyoshima & Co. Ltd (Japan).

Among the returning exhibitors, key international players included AUTEFA Solutions, Lindauer DORNIER and Rowa Group from Germany, Fil Man Made Group from Italy, Graf + Cie and Swisstulle from Switzerland, Picanol from Belgium, and more. This edition also welcomed several newcomers, partly due to the incorporation of textile chemicals and dyes into this year's product categories. Key exhibitors making their debuts included: Serel Industrie (Belgium) and Proton Products (UK) in the European Zone; Wetekam Group in the German Zone; Dupre Minerals (UK) and Michelman (USA) in the Textile Chemicals and Dyes Zone; Huamao (Xiamen), BW Advanced Materials, Shanghai Shenda, and Zhejiang Kingsafe Group from China, JCT Industries Group from Malaysia, Vietnam Geotextile from Vietnam, and more.

To support the diverse array of exhibitors and visitors onsite, Cinte Techtextil China identified specific development areas and offered relevant fringe events to facilitate meaningful interaction. The Econogy Tour and Sustainability Forum promoted the industry’s eco-transition, with the latter sparking cross-sector discussions among academia, brands, and other industry players. On the innovation front, the AI Panel and the Innovation Product Award and Presentation provided forward-looking insights from various perspectives, helping the industry reshape its future.

Other events like the CINC, themed ‘Breaking the Deadlock and Reconstruction’, offered in-depth discussions and report presentations for the nonwovens industry to navigate upcoming challenges and opportunities. To harness the promising Mobiltech trend, the fair organised a Technical Innovation Exchange Conference on Automotive Textiles followed by a tour visiting related exhibitors. Interested parties could also enjoy live-streamed tours organised for in-demand sectors such as Medtech, Mobiltech, and Protech.

The next edition of Cinte Techtextil China will be held from 1 – 3 September 2026.

The fair is organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd; the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; and the China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association (CNITA).

Auch in diesem Jahr präsentieren das Thüringische Institut für Textil- und Kunststoff-Forschung e.V. und seine beiden Tochterunternehmen OMPG und Smartpolymer auf der Messe K, dem Branchentreff der Kunststoffindustrie in Düsseldorf, wieder innovative Produkte und Dienstleistungen. Darunter den mehrfach preisgekrönten Bio-Schmelzklebstoff Caremelt®, hochgefüllte Filamente für den Metall-3D-Druck oder carbonfaserverstärkte Tapes für anspruchsvollste Leichtbau-Anwendungen. 

Unidirektional verstärkte Tapes sind Schlüsselmaterialien für den effizienten und nachhaltigen Leichtbau. Sie ermöglichen es, Bauteile gezielt, ressourcenschonend und leistungsoptimiert herzustellen, indem Fasern exakt dort platziert werden, wo sie für die mechanische Belastung benötigt werden. Damit stehen maßgeschneiderte Halbzeuge für den Leichtbau zur Verfügung. Auf der K-Messe zeigt das TITK hierzu die Ergebnisse eines Forschungsprojekts: neue, trockene Schmalbandgelege auf Basis von 50K Carbonfaserrovings. Diese Tapes wurden mit angepassten Nähgarnen und einer verbesserten Thermofixierung produziert und in einem automatisierten, robotergestützten Tapelegeverfahren verarbeitet. 

Andere Exponate der TITK-Gruppe dokumentieren das zunehmende Interesse der Industrie am mehrfach ausgezeichneten Bio-Schmelzklebstoff Caremelt®. Er wurde zuletzt beispielsweise vom Branchenführer für Tierbestattungen, dem Unternehmen ROSENGARTEN aus Bad Bergen, oder der Firma Kneisz Design aus Weimar in die Produktion übernommen. Seit April und noch bis Mitte Oktober ist Caremelt® auch auf der Expo 2025 in Osaka (Japan) zu sehen. 

Als erster vollständig biobasierter und bioabbaubarer Schmelzklebstoff kommt er komplett ohne fossile Ressourcen aus und bietet die Möglichkeit, Produkte, die bereits nachhaltig hergestellt werden, nun vollständig umweltfreundlich zu gestalten. Gerade bei Klebstoff ist ein Recycling nahezu unmöglich. Umso wichtiger ist es, dass am Ende des Produktlebenszyklus kein Mikroplastik entsteht. Die potenziellen Anwendungsgebiete von Caremelt® sind sehr vielfältig. Sie reichen von der Verpackungs-, Hygiene- und Textilindustrie über die Automotive-Branche bis hin zur Schuh-, Holz-, und Möbelindustrie. Der Klebstoff ist CO2-neutral; weltweit verfügbare Ausgangsstoffe machen seine industrielle Herstellung kostengünstig. 

Auf ein anderes Einsatzgebiet zielen polymerbasierte Strahlungselemente für dielektrische Resonatorantennen. Diese sehr spezifischen Bauteile finden Verwendung in Antennen für lokale Breitbandsysteme der Industrie, Forst- und Landwirtschaft, für Sicherheitsdienste sowie für WLAN-Hotspots des Gebäudefunks und in Verkehrsmitteln. Das TITK forscht schon länger an diesen Polymerhalbzeugen und konnte erreichen, dass sie gegenüber konventionellen Produkten mit einer hohen Permittivität und niedrigem Dämpfungsverlust überzeugen. 

Das Ziel der Untersuchungen bestand in der Entwicklung dielektrisch gefüllter Polymer-substrate und -halbzeuge, die sich als Strahlungselemente zunächst in Hotspotantennen zwischen 2 bis 3,7 GHz und 5 bis 6 GHz aber auch bei höheren Frequenzen im 5G-Bereich verwenden lassen. Hierfür wurden Polymerkomposite mit keramischen Komponenten wie Titanaten mit hohem Füllgrad und Permittivität sowohl unter Einsatz klassischer Kunststoffverarbeitungsverfahren, wie Extrusion, Spritzguss und Formpressen, aber auch mittels additiver Fertigungstechnologie wie dem FFF-Verfahren (Fused Filament Fabrication) zu den Strahlungselementen verarbeitet. Die eingesetzten dielektrischen Polymerkomposite sind auch bei sehr hohen Füllgraden thermoplastisch verarbeitbar, so dass gegenüber kommerziellen Laminatverbunden ein größerer Permittivitätsbereich abgedeckt werden kann. 

Wie sich die Verarbeitungsprozesse für den Metall-3D-Druck nachhaltig und kreislauffähig gestalten lassen, hat das TITK gemeinsam mit dem ifw – Günther-Köhler-Institut für Fügetechnik und Werkstoffprüfung (Jena) und der GFE – Gesellschaft für Fertigungstechnik und Entwicklung (Schmalkalden) erforscht. Seit Juni ist das Projekt „kreislaufoptimierte Prozesskette für die additive Fertigung von metallischen Werkzeugkomponenten über Materialextrusion“ nun beendet, sodass in Düsseldorf konkrete Ergebnisse vorgestellt werden können. 

Das TITK produzierte Filamente für den FFF-Druck aus eigens entwickelten Blends, die einen Füllgrad von bis zu 90 Gewichtsprozent Metallpulver aufweisen. Nach dem Verdrucken der Filamente wird der Kunststoff erst über Lösungsmittel und dann thermisch entfernt. Nach dem anschließenden Sintern liegt ein dichtes, rein metallisches Bauteil vor. 

Konventionell verfügbare Filamente benötigen toxische oder brennbare Lösungsmittel zum Entbindern. Bei den am TITK entwickelten Endlosfäden können dagegen Wasser oder wasserbasierte Lösungsmittel vor dem Ofenprozess genutzt werden. Mit der Rückgewinnung des gelösten Binders und einer funktionsintegrierten Leichtbauweise leisten die Bauteile zudem noch einen Beitrag zur Ressourcenschonung. In einem Folgeprojekt sollen nun weitere Bindersysteme mit anderen Stahlsorten und auch keramischen Füllstoffen untersucht werden.

OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers in the field of electric powertrains are under increasing pressure to improve performance, efficiency, and scalability of their drive systems. One key enabler now reaching industrial mass-production: composite-based rotor sleeves. These lightweight, high-performance components offer significant advantages in terms of mechanical containment of rotor components to achieve more efficient designs for high-speed rotation – especially in demanding automotive, aerospace and industrial applications. 

Following nine months of collaborative research, a consortium of 15 leading companies – Arkema Group, Covenstro Deutschland AG, DOMO Engineering Plastics Europe S.p.A., Hexcel Composites SASU, Huntsman Advanced Materials, Hutchinson SA CRI, Kümpers GmbH, LG Electronics Deutschland GmbH, Maru Hachi Corporation, Rassini Supensiones S.A. de C.V., Schunk Kohlenstofftechnik GmbH, Swancore Netherlands B.V., Syensqo, Toray Carbon Fibres Europe S.A., Toyota Motor Europe N.V./S.A.  – has completed a comprehensive analysis and benchmarking project led by AZL Aachen GmbH. The project systematically analysed the state of the art, compared materials, design strategies, and processing methods for rotor sleeves made from thermoset and thermoplastic carbon fibre composites. The result is a comprehensive market and technology analysis, documented in a 384-page final report – and ready to be implemented into cooperations.  

To support OEMs and motor developers in leveraging these findings, AZL is now hosting a dedicated web meeting – designed specifically to demonstrate the practical relevance, supply chain maturity, and technology details of composite rotor sleeves for electric drives. Participation is free of charge. 

The event will provide a strategic overview of the technology’s capabilities and will highlight the concrete potential for integration into series production. It starts with an introduction to the current state of the technology and its role in enabling the next generation of electric motors. AZL will then present the consolidated results from the project’s work packages. Key insights include comparisons of rotor sleeve designs (press-fit vs. direct-wound), material classes (thermoplastic and thermoset carbon composites), mechanical and thermal performance benchmarks and production KPIs.  

In the second part of the meeting, participants will get the opportunity to meet the consortium behind the recently finished project – from composite material suppliers and machine manufacturers to rotor sleeve producers. Each partner will briefly pitch their unique expertise and offerings, helping OEMs identify reliable contacts for implementation projects.  

Fabian Köster, Development Engineer Composites at Schunk Kohlenstofftechnik GmbH, explains: “As a technology leader and high-volume manufacturer in the field of rotor sleeves, Schunk considers it essential to actively shape innovation. Our participation in the AZL project reflects our strong belief that future viability and competitiveness can only be secured through early involvement in technological developments. The AZL info event offers OEMs and partners across the entire value chain a valuable opportunity to exchange insights on the current state of rotor sleeve technologies, explore emerging trends, and collaboratively develop solutions for tomorrow’s challenges.”  

For OEMs, this event provides not only an update on emerging technology, it also offers direct access to a ready-to-engage partner network. It also marks the official launch of a follow-up experimental project. 

This follow-up initiative will shift from theoretical analysis to experimental validation. Its goal is to benchmark the performance of different material and process combinations under real-world production and operating conditions. 

The follow project includes four work packages. The first work package will define the production concepts and materials to be tested experimentally, including the design of test methods and auxiliary equipment for press fit operations. The second work package is targeting a production process consisting of separate winding and press fitting on the rotor. It includes manufacturing of sleeves using wet winding, towpreg winding and thermoplastic tape winding. Strength testing of the sleeves will consider different prestress levels, while also the quality of the laminate will be evaluated. The third work package will do the same, but in this case for a process, directly winding on the rotor. Evaluation will also include high temperature testing and long-term durability. Finally in the fourth work package all process and strength test results will be evaluated on cost, quality, and performance, leading to benchmarking of various materials, and clear recommendations for cost efficient rotor sleeves. 

The web meeting, hosted on September 25th, is open to OEMs, motor developers, innovation managers, and system integrators seeking to accelerate their next electric powertrain generation. A registration link will be provided for all interested participants. Contact Philipp Fröhlig (philipp.froehlig@azl-aachen-gmbh.de) for a registration link.

Der Bundesverband Medizintechnologie (BVMed) fordert anlässlich der „State of the Union“-Rede von EU-Kommissionspräsidentin Ursula von der Leyen einen stärkeren Fokus auf Gesundheitsversorgung, Gesundheitswirtschaft und Medizintechnologien als Teil der Lösung. So fehle es in den Zollverhandlungen mit den USA nach wie vor an Ausnahmeregelungen für Medizinprodukte, um die medizinische Versorgung nicht zu gefährden. „Es ist richtig, einen Schwerpunkt auf die Stärkung des Wirtschaftsstandorts Europa zu legen. Dafür muss die Medizintechnik als Leitbranche aber stärker einbezogen werden. Wir müssen den Innovationstransfer beschleunigen, KMU unterstützen, Bürokratie abbauen und die EU-Medizinprodukte-Verordnung (MDR) rasch verbessern“, kommentiert BVMed-Geschäftsführer und Vorstandsmitglied Dr. Marc-Pierre Möll die Rede vor dem Europaparlament.

Medizintechnologien sind für Patient:innen und die Gesundheitssysteme unverzichtbar: Diagnose, Behandlung und Genesung hängen in hohem Maße von ihnen ab. Der Sektor ist auch ein wichtiger Motor für die wirtschaftliche Stärke und industrielle Widerstandsfähigkeit Europas. 

Die Forderungen des deutschen MedTech-Verbandes im Einzelnen:

• Medizinprodukte müssen von jeglichen Handelszöllen oder Ausfuhrbeschränkungen ausgenommen werden, so wie es bislang aus humanitären Gründen gute Praxis war. Die EU muss mit den USA ein „Zero for Zero“-Zollabkommen zum Medizintechnik-Bereich verhandeln, um Patient:innen zu schützen und den Zugang zu lebenswichtigen Gesundheitslösungen zu erhalten. Denn: Medizintechnologien sind von komplexen globalen Lieferketten und fortschrittlichen Materialwissenschaften abhängig. Einige Geräte erfordern bis zu tausend Komponenten aus verschiedenen Regionen, beispielsweise Patient:innen-Überwachungssysteme, Dialysesysteme, In-vitro-Diagnostikgeräte oder Magnetresonanztomographen. Rohstoffe und Halbfertigteile werden häufig zwischen internationalen Produktionsstätten transportiert, um dort einer speziellen Verarbeitung unterzogen zu werden. Zölle und weitere Handelsbeschränkungen stören diese komplexen Prozesse und schaden der Medizintechnikbranche in vielerlei Hinsicht.
• Der BVMed unterstützt die Ankündigung der EU-Kommission, gezielte Maßnahmen zu ergreifen, um die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der europäischen Industrie zu stärken und dabei einen speziellen Fokus auf KMU zu legen. Dafür benötigen wir gezielte Maßnahmen zur Entlastung kleiner und mittlerer Unternehmen, etwa bei MDR-Zertifizierungsgebühren. Wir müssen KMU-Belange in europäischen Gesetzgebungsverfahren systematisch berücksichtigen. Denn: Der Mittelstand spielt in der MedTech-Branche eine tragende Rolle: Rund 93 Prozent der MedTech-Unternehmen sind KMU. Der BVMed hat gemeinsam mit dem Diagnostika-Verband VDGH im Sommer 2025 ein detailliertes Positionspapier zur besseren KMU-Unterstützung vorgelegt.
• Der BVMed unterstützt das Vorhaben der EU-Kommission, die MDR zu evaluieren und zu verbessern. Gleichzeitig sollten kurzfristige untergesetzliche Maßnahmen umgesetzt werden, um die Bürokratielast zu reduzieren, ohne die Sicherheit oder Leistungsfähigkeit der Produkte und die Sicherheit von Patient:innen zu beeinflussen. Dazu gehört die unbegrenzte Gültigkeit von MDR-Zertifikaten auf Basis des in die MDR integrierten Lebenszyklusansatzes. Vorschläge zur Verbesserung der MDR und der IVDR (In-vitro-Diagnostika-Verordnung) hat der BVMed in einem gemeinsamen Whitepaper mit dem VDGH bereits 2023 vorgelegt.
• Der BVMed begrüßt, dass ein Schwerpunkt der EU-Lifescience-Strategie auf der Reform des regulatorischen Rahmens liegt. Ein moderner, innovationsfreundlicher und effizienter Rechtsrahmen ist für die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der europäischen Medizintechnik-Branche von großer Bedeutung. Zu einer strukturellen Reform gehören aus BVMed-Sicht:
  o    Die Vereinfachung der Genehmigungsverfahren.
  o    Die Förderung von risikobasierten Ansätzen.
  o    Die Sicherstellung eines zeitnahen Zugangs der Patient:innen zu innovativen Technologien.
  o    Der Abbau von unnötigem Verwaltungsaufwand.
  o    Die Unterstützung von kleinen und mittelständischen Unternehmen (KMU).

Dr. Marc-Pierre Möll: „Europa steht in einem harten Wettbewerb um Investitionen und Top-Talente. Um Innovationen hier zu entwickeln, benötigen wir international wettbewerbsfähige Rahmenbedingungen. Gesundheitsversorgung und die Stärkung der Medizintechnik als Leitwirtschaft müssen deshalb auf EU-Ebene im Fokus bleiben. Dazu gehört ein besonderer Blick auf die Unterstützung von KMU “

At the forthcoming ITMA Asia + CITME exhibition in Singapore, specialists from a 20-strong delegation of British Textile Machinery Association (BTMA) companies will be on hand to discuss some of the highly advanced industries they are now actively supporting.

The manufacture of medical sutures, for example, is a very specialised process and because these items are implanted directly into the human body, every stage of production is tightly controlled to ensure safety, sterility and reliable performance.

Absorbable sutures are usually made from polymers that degrade safely within the body, such as polyglycolic acid, polylactic acid or polydioxanone, while non-absorbable sutures use durable materials like nylon, polypropylene, polyester, silk or even stainless steel. All of these must be of medical grade and fully biocompatible.

The UK’s Fibre Extrusion Technology (FET) is a world leader in both the fibre selection and production technologies behind this industry and in Singapore will highlight a groundbreaking new parallel technology for the medical sector based on supercritical CO2. Further developments in the field of automation and control in advanced fibre production will be highlighted by BTMA members including Autofoam, James Heal, Roaches, Strayfield, Verivide and Wira Instrumentation.

AFP and ATL
From the micro to the macro, sophisticated aerospace technologies such as automated fibre placement (AFP) and automated tape laying (ATL) meanwhile involve the precise placement of carbon fibre tapes or tows on a mould surface, which are then cured to form lightweight yet strong components. 
AFP allows for complex geometries by steering individual tows, making it ideal for fuselage sections, wing skins and other curved structures. ATL, on the other hand, is more efficient for larger, flatter surfaces such as wing covers or stabilisers, where wider tapes can be laid down at high speed with minimal gaps or overlaps. Together, these technologies significantly reduce material waste, improve repeatability and deliver structural performance beyond what traditional hand lay-up methods can achieve.

The UK’s Cygnet Texkimp has developed a new technology to greatly assist this industry which will be unveiled in Singapore.

Collaboration
“High value industries such as aerospace, defence, renewable energy, automotive and the medical sector are areas of high growth and opportunity and an important factor underpinning the success of our companies here is the strong collaboration between industry and the many universities and institutes in the UK,” says BTMA CEO Jason Kent. “Machine builders can also be important in driving material developments as well as technologies.”

UHMWPE
A good example of this is the flexible new process for manufacturing ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) that will be introduced in Singapore by FET.

UHMWPE is prized in many industries due to its extraordinary properties, being for example, ten times stronger than steel by weight. It is increasingly used in medical implants, but the current systems for manufacturing it are on a huge scale, with very complex processing routes.

This restricts the opportunity for new product development – a disadvantage that is fully addressed with FET’s series lab and small scale gel spinning system, which is already industrialised.

“We have supplied many extrusion systems to the biomedical market and in exploring what else we could do for the same customers it became clear that there was a need for smaller quantities of UHMWPE fibres in bespoke sizes.” explains FET Managing Director Richard Slack. “We believe our introduction of a patented batch system for solvent extraction exploiting supercritical CO2 is a game changer.”

Early stage development
Cygnet Texkimp has meanwhile just introduced a next-generation, production-scale prepreg tape slitting machine at its UK Innovation Centre in Northwich.

This enables organisations to trial the slitting of continuous thermoset, thermoplastic and ceramic prepreg tapes for AFP and AFL processes in real-world conditions using their own materials or those produced on Cygnet Texkimp’s in-house R&D prepreg machines on the machine. The technology can slit tapes at speeds of up to 60 metres per minute, subject to the input material.

“We’re pleased to be able to offer partners the opportunity to engage with us at an early stage in process development, to test out their concepts, explore machine parameters, assess output quality and validate performance with support from our expert team,” says Graeme Jones, wide web product director at Cygnet Texkimp.

Splicing portfolio
Also providing back up services to the aerospace industry is Airbond, with splicing technologies which ensure resource efficiency in the processing of extremely expensive carbon and aramid fibres. Pneumatic yarn splicing is a process established in the textile industry for joining yarns and works by intermingling individual filaments closely together, to make joint which are stronger and flatter than knots.

“We are continuing to find new partners in the wind turbine, hydrogen and aerospace industries and are doing a lot of developmental work with research institutes and universities,” says technical director Carwyn Webb. “This is leading to us expanding our portfolio and we are currently working on systems for carbon tape splicing, for example, as well as an automated system for full weaving beams.”

Further developments for the technical textiles and composites sectors will be showcased by BTMA members including Garnett Controls, Roaches International, Slack & Parr and Tatham.

Spirit of openness
“Many BTMA members are currently developing new technologies, either in-house or increasingly through joint projects, and we have much to reveal in Singapore,” says Jason Kent in conclusion. “There’s a new spirit of openness and adventurous interaction in the UK right now – especially in the fields of advanced fibres and technical textiles – which is very encouraging for the future.”

Teijin Carbon announced the NCAMP (National Center for Advanced Materials Performance) qualification of its Tenax™ IMS65 E23 24K non-crimp fabrics (NCF) and woven unidirectional (UD) materials, in conjunction with the Syensqo PRISM® EP2400 epoxy resin system. This milestone marks the first NCAMP qualification of dry carbon reinforcements using vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) as a standalone and process-separable infusion route.

The Teijin Carbon materials are formally qualified under material specification NMS 241 and process specification NPS 82401 and are accompanied by a publicly available NCAMP material property data report. The NCAMP program is sponsored by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

The NCAMP database supports proof of equivalence across various types of infusion equipment and techniques, opening the door for broader aerospace adoption of out-of-autoclave (OoA) composite manufacturing.

Partnership with Mississippi State University Enhances Implementation
To support practical implementation of the qualified system and part development, Teijin Carbon and Syensqo have partnered with Mississippi State University’s Advanced Composites Institute (MSU-ACI) in Starkville. With its advanced VARTM capabilities and scalable tooling strategies, MSU-ACI plays a key role in validating process robustness and material consistency. The institute helps give manufacturers confidence that they can achieve aerospace-grade quality with accessible, cost-effective production methods.

This collaboration reflects Teijin Carbons’s commitment to facilitating the adoption of infusion technologies by reducing learning curves and enabling faster design-to-certification pathways through NCAMP-qualified data.

Material Benefits for Structural Aerospace Applications
The newly qualified Tenax™ non-crimp facric based on IMS65 E23 24K combined with the Syensqo PRISM® EP2400 epoxy resin system deliver:

• Out-of-autoclave processing with autoclave-comparable mechanical performance
• High fiber volume with near-zero void content
• Long out-life dry preforms — ideal for large, complex components
• Global availability of all components by sea, land, or air
• Accelerated FAA certification with publicly available B-basis allowables

This qualification offers aerospace OEMs and tier suppliers a scalable and robust alternative to traditional prepreg processing. It is suitable for small to extra-large primary or secondary structures as well as integrated parts such as control surfaces, access panels, fairings, in commercial and defense platforms. This processing method can contribute to efficient and resource-conscious manufacturing aligned with the aerospace industry's sustainability goals.

Teijin Carbon and Syensqo will continue to collaborate under the partnership with Mississippi State University to provide the world with advanced composite material solutions that can shape a more efficient, resilient, and sustainable future for aerospace.