The Gillard Government will invest $3.7 million (GST exclusive) to support four new projects to enhance the competitiveness of Australia's Textile, Clothing and Footwear (TCF) sector.
New projects - including developing a material for curtains that absorbs noise while letting in sunlight, and a centre of excellence for digital printing - will be supported by the TCF Strategic Capability Program.
Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation, Senator Kate Lundy, today announced the four new grants worth a combined $3.7 million (GST exclusive) from the third round of the program.
"These projects will combine research with industry know-how to boost the capability of the textile, clothing and footwear sector," Senator Lundy said.
"The TCF sector is important to Australia's economy and, while it faces challenges from cheap overseas competition, these projects demonstrate that through innovation our industry also has significant potential.
"The four new projects are about creating new opportunities - they combine industry with cutting-edge research to develop and capitalise on new ideas."
The four projects funded under the third round of the TCF Strategic Capability Program include:
Digital Textile Printing Pty Ltd ($1,269,299) will create a Centre of Digital Excellence to develop and facilitate accredited training courses on digital design creation and printing for the TCF industry.
Materialised Pty Ltd ($461,189) will undertake a project with the CSIRO, to develop a sheer curtain textile that can provide reduced noise reverberation, while providing a high degree of light transmission for the Hospitality, Health Care and Aged Care sectors.
Bekaert (Australia) Pty Ltd ($1,152,185) in conjunction with RMIT and CSIRO, will undertake research to improve the performance of restorative sleep through textiles and bedding products with a focus on the health and aged care markets.
Bruck Textiles Pty Ltd ($793,585) in partnership with Victoria University, will research the potential for a membrane distillation process to convert waste heat and waste water (effluent) from textile processing to recycled water.
These projects join the 17 ground breaking projects already being funded by the TCF Strategic Capability Program such as the Textile and Fashion Hub in inner city Melbourne that provides state of the art design, training and short-run production to designers and manufacturers Australia wide.
The TCF Strategic Capability program has funded 21 projects worth $33 million that will run to 30 June 2015.
Australian government
