Next Textile Borås 2010
May 24-25
TECHNOLOGY
CHANGES
BUSINESS
Next Textile – a topic of global interest
Tough economic times make good breeding ground for innovational inspiration. In summer 2009 a modest two-day event was held in Borås, where driving forces within the industrial life of the town and college, together with a delegation from Australia highlighted textiles as a developmental area with significant potential. The experiment whetted the appetite and showed the need for an international meeting place for everyone wanting to take an active part in textile development of the future. We are now looking at what we can do for 2010. Borås and Sjuhärad will once again be destinations for national and international interest within textiles and design.
Next Textile Borås is a strategic venture by Borås town to create a regular, international meeting place where industries can exchange ideas, discuss trends, new business opportunities and collaboration in the cradle of the Swedish textile industry. Those involved are FutureLab/FutureDesignDays, Smart Textiles, The EcoCotton Co, BoråsBorås, Sjuhärad’s local unions, Borås tidning (newspaper), the Fashion Council, Textile and Clothing Industry, Australian Trade Commission, the Swedish School of Textiles in Borås and the Nordic Design School.
Would you also like to take control of your future? Tomorrow’s textile relationships are woven today at Next Textile Borås.
A venue focusing on matchmaking
It’s boring and inefficient to talk about new things in an old way. Everyone who has been to a normal seminar understands this, with gurus lined up on stage. Next Textile Borås takes the future seriously, and offers you the chance to network with leading professionals of the future in an inspiring, interactive context.
Equally important as the lectures themselves are the speakers’ presence during the debates and off stage. And networking is as important as the factual content. So inspirational moments, match-making and company visits are also on the programme during these two days. At Next Textile Borås the town’s administration works together with education and industry – a meeting format that makes it possible for professions that seldom meet to get together and exchange ideas; students, designers, technicians, marketing people, business executives, researchers and politicians.
Ideas about the future today
Several features of Next Textile Borås are arranged in collaboration with the design conference FutureDesignDays.
FutureDesignDays conference is an entertaining talk show format that supplies ideas about the textile innovations of the future. As a delegate, you are invited to an “edutainment” – that is to say, a combination of education and entertainment. Designers, architects, companies, business executives and academics from all over the world are on stage. The conference finishes with a panel discussion – a forum where discussions can get very heated. Here, as a visitor, you are welcome to participate with your questions.
FutureDesignDays Breakout Sessions is an exclusive forum with a significantly smaller audience than at the conference. Every Breakout Session offers a very limited number of places. It is open for interaction with possibilities for discussions between the speaker and the audience, leading to exciting exchanges between the two. Sometimes the subjects are large and broad, but more often specific with non-mainstream questions on the agenda. The format offers the audience a chance to better understand the process behind the product, service or project presented.
FutureDesignDays Design Night concludes the first day with mingle, prize-giving and dinner. It would be difficult to surpass the opportunities to extend contact nets and develop business. There is a particularly honest, intimate and positive atmosphere for discussions; plus a great deal of curiosity when delegates from all over the world, branches and industries get together in a relaxed environment. Knowledge and experiences are exchanged, ideas flow and the ambience is great.
