CEMATEX, the European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers and the owner of ITMA exhibition, has announced its new initiative ‘Start-Up Valley’ during upcoming ITMA exhibition.
The Start-Up Valley is said to support start-ups with new and innovative offerings, and to inspire innovation for the textiles, garments and fashion industry.
CEMATEX will provide selected young enterprises with solutions for the textile and garment industry with a grant to exhibit at the Start-Up Valley during ITMA 2023 that is scheduled to take place from 8 to 14 June in Milan, Italy.
The grant will cover the rental costs of a special design stand and fittings, as well as entitlements such as business matching.
“We are excited to launch this initiative to attract innovative start-ups to ITMA 2023,” commented Ernesto Maurer, President, CEMATEX, adding, “The Start-Up Valley will be a good complement to the ITMA Research and Innovation Lab.”
Ernesto further stated that, as the largest textile technology exhibition attracted leading textile and garment manufacturers from around the world, ITMA offers young entrepreneurs a useful platform to put their innovations in front of a global audience, to find investors and collaborators and to leverage industry connections and professional networks.
CEMATEX has also announced the eligibility criteria for this grant: start-ups must have a product or service that is within ITMA 2023’s exhibit profile. The company should also have been incorporated for not more than eight years, and have either generated revenue for at least a year or raised capital from investors or grants from other incubator programmes.
Further, a key selection criterion is the environmental, economic and/or disruptive impact of the innovation, solution or product. Other criteria include the scalability of the innovation and its relevance to ITMA’s theme: Transforming the world of textiles, and the four trending topics of advanced materials, automation and digital future, sustainability and circularity, and innovative technologies.
