At the Open Day on July 14, 2024, the DITF were able to convince the public that applied research on textile products and their raw materials makes a decisive contribution to improving our living conditions. At 29 research stations and with a comprehensive lecture program, the DITF gave the public an insight into their laboratories and pilot plants and provided information on current research topics. Around 2,000 visitors took the opportunity to take a look behind the scenes.
Fibers and textiles are used in many everyday products and also provide valuable services as technical textiles in almost all industrial sectors. Products, new processes, testing techniques and laboratory experiments – 29 stations provided an impressive insight into the topics on which the researchers in Denkendorf are currently working. Textile research reflects our entire everyday life and addresses all relevant future topics such as medicine, mobility, architecture, the environment and energy – this was clearly demonstrated by the wide range of topics covered at the event.
In addition to the research stations, which could be explored in tours, the researchers presented the results of their work to the public in 13 lectures on selected research topics. The focus of all the presentations: The practical relevance to everyday life. After all, research at the DITF is applied and should always deliver results that can be put into practice. The speakers on topics such as bionics, fiber composites and sustainable fiber production proved that this is possible.
As a further highlight, hands-on stations offered the opportunity to carry out experiments and understand scientific correlations. Families tried their hand at chemistry experiments, used plant fleeces for sowing experiments and independently explored textile materials with a stereomicroscope.
The many positive responses and the high number of visitors confirm that the open day was well received by the visitors. A good reason for the DITF to repeat the open day in a few years‘ time. Then with new research topics, because the textile world is constantly evolving.
