Textile ETP at TEXP@ACT final event
On 12 May 2026, Textile ETP Secretary General Lutz Walter attended the final event of the TEXP@CT project in Porto, Portugal.
TEXP@CT was a 3-year €40 million digital innovation programme for the Portuguese textile and fashion industry, managed by CITEVE. Close to 40 partners from industry, digital technology & research implemented 26 pilot projects across 7 different innovation areas from design & product development, to production, supply chain and consumer interaction.
As part of a small team of international evaluators, Lutz participated in a panel discussion moderated by Braz Costa (CITEVE) and featuring Crispin Argento (The Sourcery) and Thomas Håkansson (Fashionlab), where he highlighted the unique position of the integrated Portuguese textile-fashion cluster to implement such comprehensive digital innovation programme. The debate made it clear that the 26 digital solutions validated in the project align Portugal with the most demanding European guidelines for digitalisation and circularity. The 3 experts stressed that the work carried out in the last three years is something that no other European country would be able to implement, given Portugal's unique competitive advantage: the concentration of a complete textile value chain in a manageable regional environment. It was also highlighted that Europe should not compete with Asia in all segments, but rather focus on products where speed and proximity create real value. In this scenario, digitalization is the tool that allows for precise and consumer-focused production, reducing waste and consolidating a cleaner, more efficient and strategically positioned business model to lead the future of the sector on the continent.
Many solutions on display in Porto will quickly find their way into the industry and help strengthen the Portuguese industry's competitive position combining the unique integrated manufacturing excellence with speed and data-driven decsion-making to more fully exploit their geographical proximity to the demanding EU end market.
Part of TEXP@CT's results will be presented in the upcoming webinar of the DigitX Innovation Hub on 21 May, and during the Textile ETP Annual Conference in Amsterdam on 26-27 May.
