From textile heritage to sustainable innovation: ViSS meets in Alcoy
Partners gathered at AITEX to advance the development and validation of bio-based packaging solutions
Despite grey skies and occasional rain, ViSS partners gathered last week in the charming historic town of Alcoy, Alicante Province, Spain, where innovation is part of the city’s identity. Nestled among rugged mountain landscapes, Alcoy has long been known as one of Spain’s historic industrial centres, where the textile, paper, and metallurgy sectors drove an early wave of industrialisation in the 19th century and shaped the city’s distinctive architecture. The ViSS General Assembly took place in this inspiring setting, bringing partners together to review progress and plan the next steps of the project.
The meeting was hosted by AITEX, a leading Spanish textile research centre located at the foot of the mountains, known for its work in textile innovation, material development, and testing services for the textile and packaging industries. Within the project, AITEX plays a key role in supporting the development of PHBV compounds through different formulation ranges and validating their transformation into mesh packaging using melt spinning and knitting processes at small scale. The research centre will also assess the tenacity and mechanical performance of the textile materials.
In parallel, the validation of the ViSS packaging at small scale will be defined by Tecnoalimenti in collaboration with PROPAGROUP, establishing the strategy for testing and evaluating the developed solutions. Thanks to the collaboration of all partners, the coordination of CETEC, and KVELOCE, VTT, IRIS, Helian Polymers, IDENER, Zukan, the University of Alicante, and the University of Birmingham, the project is advancing knowledge about sustainable food packaging. In the coming months, ViSS will move forward with key development and new activities.