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NC State University and Gaston College’s Kimbrell Campus in Belmont will lead a Department of Defense initiative aimed at improving production and performance of textiles used by the military.
The FutureTEX award launches the Defense Department’s ninth Manufacturing Innovation Institute, and includes $36 million in the first year and has a ceiling of $480 million over a decade. It will bring together industry, government, university and nonprofit partners to advance manufacturing technologies of textiles for military and domestic applications.
Gaston College, which has had the North Carolina Center for Applied Textile Technology since 2005, is the first community college to host a Manufacturing Innovation Institute. It’s a longtime hub of textile training and development.
“We’re talking about innovating the very fiber in our warfighters’ uniforms, parachutes, and camouflage to keep them performing better and safer,” Assistant Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology Joseph Jewell told Defense Scoop. “Ultimately, this means increased survivability, better protection, and enhanced lethality for our warfighters on the front lines.”
The initiative is expected to attract companies, government leaders, researchers and investment to the region, while helping existing businesses access technologies, talent and training.
Other core partners will be Drexel University, Georgia Tech, the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and the Detroit-based Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center. Besides Belmont, there will also be hubs in Raleigh, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Lowell, Massachusetts. (Note: the Gaston County town of Lowell was named after the Massachusetts city because of its textile base.)
“FutureTEX is focused on creating a cutting-edge national ecosystem for defense textiles that simply doesn’t exist today,” says David Hinks, chief strategic partnerships officer of FutureTEX and the Prakash Chand Kochhar Dean of NC State’s Wilson College of Textiles. “This will involve commercializing applied research to help American textile manufacturing meet the needs of both the warfighter and the domestic textile industry.
“North Carolina and Gaston County have deep roots in the textile industry dating back to the late 19th century, making it only natural that our state is anchoring an initiative aimed at strengthening advanced textile manufacturing and supporting warfighters,” says John Hauser, president of Gaston College.
“With Gaston College’s deep-rooted commitment to workforce development and the textile industry, we are uniquely positioned to propel this manufacturing innovation institute forward with all of our partners.”