The Aachen - Dresden - Denkendorf International Textile Conference 2022 is one of the most important textile conferences in Europe. Connecting research and industry, it offers a concentrated exchange on the latest developments in the fields of textile chemistry, finishing and functionalisation, textile machinery, processes and composites.

The energy crisis is plunging the German textile industry in 2022 into the most severe crisis since the 1980s and 1990s, when production in Western Europe largely collapsed and migrated on a large scale. Nonprofit textile research is no less affected by current price trends and limited raw material availability. To highlight the precarious situation, STFI is currently seeking dialogue with local political representatives. On October 28, 2022, Bernhard Herrmann, Member of the German Parliament, and Gerhard Liebscher, Member of the Saxony Parliament, from the German Party BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN visited the STFI to gather information on the situation of textile research.

On 17 October 2022, the annual conference of the textil+mode association took place in Berlin. In this context, the best three podcasts of the new series HÖR MAL ZU(KUNFT)! were awarded. One of the winners was Nina Litsios from the Sächsischen Textilforschungsinstitut e.V. (STFI). Her podcast explored the question of what sustainability means for a textile research institute.

We are pleased to present the programme for the 5th ADDITIVE MANUFACTURE symposium in the textile industry. The conference will be held on 17 November 2022 at KARL MAYER Holding GmbH & Co. KG in Obertshausen.

The successful 61st Global Fiber Congress in Dornbirn, at which our long-standing Executive Director and Chairman of the Board Prof. Fuchs was honoured with the Life Time Award, was followed by the 35th Hof Nonwovens Days and the Chemnitz Textile Technology Conference. STFI also presented itself at both events with an own stand and presentations on the Institute's projects.

In the project "Multifunctional 3D printing on textiles", a 3D printing process for textiles was developed using a 2-component print head to generate at least three functional modifications. These were generated by a defined adjustment of the mixing ratio of two pasty materials.

The world's largest fibre innovation congress took place for the 61st time in Dornbirn, Austria. More than 200 different companies and institutes were represented at the congress, well over 500 participants from all over the world attended the event from 14 - 16 September 2022. In addition to fibre innovations, smart and functional surface modifications, the main focus was set on circular economy and sustainability.

The first contact between the STFI, Tenowo GmbH Hof and the Austrian artist Daniel Hölzl took place several years ago. What began with a small donation of materials now culminates in his first exhibition.

Improved quality for nonwovens made from high-performance fibres and longer lifetime due to optimised card clothing and adapted online control as well as integration of the online wear analysis into the process and developing of an industrial adapted version

As part of the futureTex project HPF Garnitur, a digital monitoring system was developed that analyses the wear of card clothing. In the sense of Industry 4.0, this enables maintenance-optimised process control, so that the necessity of the upcoming clothing change can first be checked online.

The aim of the ZIM project EcoCutPro was the development of a flame-retardant ecological cut protection coating and its implementation in an industrial application process.

At this year's Techtextil, Patrick Engel, head of Center of Excellence in Nonwovens, and his colleagues achieved the Techtextil Innovation Award in the "New Concept" category. In cooperation with Kelheim Fibres GmbH and Sumo GmbH, he received the award for the development of a bio-based hygiene nonwoven – a good example of how research and industry are breaking new ground in sustainability through collaboration in an open innovation approach.

The SOS Children's Village in Zwickau was once again close to our hearts in our anniversary year 2022. Instead of a sea of flowers, we wanted our anniversary guests and well-wishers to make a donation to the SOS Children's Village in Zwickau. The amount collected makes us speechless and happy at the same time. On 20^th of July 2022, Dr. Illing-Günther, Managing Director, as well as Berit Lenk and Kareen Pfab from the Public Relations team visited the Children's Village and handed the 6.930 € donation to Susann Pohle, head of the Children's Village, and Berthold Grenz. The money will be used to support the research station and the Children's Village's own bee project.

"Beyond innovation" was the motto of this year's Techtextil which took place at the Frankfurt exhibition centre from 21 to 24 June 2022. Around 63,000 visitors enjoyed the entire spectrum of technical textiles, functional apparel textiles and textile technologies presented by 2,300 exhibitors. Parallel to Techtextil, Texprocess, and this year, for the first time, the international trade fair for home and contract textiles Heimtextil, were held at the same time.

The MC4 project consortium is calling on the carbon and glass fibre processing industry to participate in a survey on waste characterisation with economic values. The EU project MC4 - "Multi-level Circular Process Chain for Carbon and Glass Fibre Composites" started in April 2022. The project investigates circular approaches for the reuse of carbon and glass fibre composites.

The aim of the research project is the development of a new type of technology with the associated machine technology for the production of seamless, ring-shaped mesh structures for applications, which are primarily aimed at lifting gear, textile seals and textile reinforcements in fibre composite and concrete components.

The aim of the research project was the development of a novel process combination of dispenser 3D printing and UV LED curing for the digital partial functionalisation of textiles using the example of bandages for the sports and medical sectors. The solution of the project included the development of the UV curable formulations and the realisation of the simultaneous printing and curing process.

The main objective was to develop a functional, marketable hygiene textile composed of several nonwoven layers with different property profiles.

The project investigated the possibility of modifying the previous steps in joint production in rail track construction, making up reinforced joints in advance and thus shortening the construction time.

The aim of the project was the development of an innovative ceiling system based on Timber Concrete Composite construction (TCC construction) by combining sustainable building products and construction methods. Thus, an economically and ecologically advantageous alternative to the currently prevailing, energyand resource-intensive slab constructions made of reinforced concrete has been developed.