The leader of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Future of Production initiative, Attila Turos, has been revealed as the keynote speaker at October’s Textile 4.0 Conference – the first event to explore the opportunities and risk of Industry 4.0 for textile industry strategists.

The conference, organised by World Textile Information Network (WTiN), will take place at the Hotel Novotel Amsterdam City, The Netherlands, on 25-26 October 2017.

The Switzerland-based WEF brings together the world’s most influential people in business and politics to shape global, regional and industry agendas. It says of manufacturing and distribution strategy: “The world is at the threshold of a new industrial revolution characterised by a confluence of emerging technology breakthroughs, including mobile connectivity, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, next-generation robotics, 3D printing, wearables and genetic engineering, nanotechnology, advanced materials, biotechnology and others.

“These technologies, combined and connected, will transform manufacturing and production systems with unprecedented speed and scope, impacting business models, economic growth, employment and sustainability.

“Businesses in manufacturing and distribution sectors and policy-makers need new approaches and capabilities, and must work together to build truly innovative and sustainable production systems that benefit all people.”

An international development expert, Turos worked as an independent consultant before joining the WEF in 2015.

Big hitters from the textile industry itself will also feature at the Textile 4.0 Conference. A first-day session on digitalisation and its capacity to disrupt business models will deliver the vision of Chiaretto Calo, group CEO of the newly created, Italian-based IMPRIMA Group, which has already brought together some of the biggest names in digital textile printing. Also speaking in this session will be Tekin Gulsen, global IT and corporate planning director of Turkish technical fibre and yarn producer Kordsa Global; and Peter Santora, vice-president of US-based Softwear Automation, a pioneer in sewing-factory robotics.


The implications of such workplace automation for employment and skills will be the subject of a session featuring Yves-Simon Gloy, of the Institut für Textiltechnik der RWTH Aachen University.

 Other speakers announced by WTiN are: supply-chain solutions expert Mark Harrop, CEO of WhichPLM, who will explore the role of PLM and ERP software in the “smart revolution”; Steve Smith, CEO of DPInnovations, who will examine the emerging concept of “technology as a service”; and Yariv Bustan, vice-president of product and marketing at Twine Solutions, an Israeli start-up that is commercialising a groundbreaking invention for digital coloration and functionalisation of thread. Bustan will set out opportunities for new business models arising from disruptive innovation.

 WTiN recently launched IoTex magazine and introduced a Textile 4.0 channel as part of its online Intelligence portfolio, to provide a focus for discussion of the business and technology implications of Industry 4.0 in the textile industry. WTiN digital innovation analyst Mutlu Chaouch Orozco will deliver the results of her latest research, and an opening note will be delivered by Tansy Fall, editor of IoTex and Digital Textile magazines.