Collaboration lifts the combination of technology and textiles

The textile industry is undergoing changes, including towards more sustainable materials, with the new field of fashion-tech and with new business models. Lund as a city has strengths in several of these areas, including through its large research facilities ACES and MAX IV. At the end of September, the liaison department had Lund University and Future by Lund visits by several representatives from the Business Department of the City of Helsinki. The department deals with a broad area and is responsible for the City of Helsinki's programmes for work with industry, innovation, entrepreneurs and competitiveness, but also with employment and migration issues.

- Helsinki has great expertise in innovation, says project developer Katarina Scott, Future by Lund. The department is mandated to work with businesses, administrations, academia and organizations to bring about innovations and development. They are good at building innovation systems, know how to provide innovation support and how as a city to create solutions for the future. I think we have a lot to learn from them.

Marja-Leena Rinkineva, Director of the Business Department, participated in the visit to Lund and she came together with Taina Seitsara, Heidi Humala and Ida Björkbacka.

- The Helsinki region has eleven higher education institutions and 100,000 students. Although Lund has fewer students, it is still the university capital of Sweden. The innovation business in Lund is very prominent and you have impressive collaborations with the corporate world. That is why we are seeking cooperation with Lund University and the city of Lund. We see the city and the university as an entity that gives us the opportunity to collaborate on a specific area,” says Marja-Leena Rinkineva.

In Lund, representatives of Helsinki, Lund University and Future by Lund held a joint workshop on possibilities for future cooperation in fashion-tech. In the textile field, a lot is happening right now, including the upcoming digital labelling of textiles with a declaration of goods, which will allow for more extensive recycling and also open up the development of new types of business models.

- We and Helsinki have a common interest in fashion-tech, says Charlotte Lorentz Hjorth, Lund University. It is an area where we in Lund have exciting components in the business world, the area is relevant to the breadth of universities and there are great opportunities associated with ESS and MAX IV. For the past two years, Lund and Helsinki have built a relationship through our work with an application from the Creative Futures consortium for a KIC in the Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries. In that work, we discussed future areas of innovation and this is the continuation of that work.

The visit from Helsinki was a success and the group found several direct and concrete questions to start further work on.