Strategy of the development

The GEMTEX research laboratory belongs to ENSAIT, French Grande Ecole, one of the leading textile schools in Europe which graduates more than one hundred and twenty students at Ms Level in France. GEMTEX research activities are organized around three research themes and in strong interaction between each other. Each theme is headed by one or more professors or research scientists and dedicated to applied research for Textiles. These research skills are focused on the following activities:

• Human Centred Design (denoted HCD),
• Multifunctional Textiles and Processes (denoted MTP),
• Mechanics Textile Composites (denoted MTC),

In addition, GEMTEX hosts the

• EUGENIE Technology Transfer Unit aiming at development of research activities with industrial partners and

• Collaborative project set-up guidance Unit with main activities focused on development and management of collaborative projects at regional, national and European levels.

History and positioning of GEMTEX laboratory

The academic textile research has been launched at ENSAIT in Roubaix in 1992 with the creation of the scientific laboratory GEMTEX.

Since 2000, GEMTEX laboratory has dedicated its researches to industrial applications while ensuring academic researches (in transports, aeronautics...). Partnerships with industrials have been strengthened with the creation of EUGENIE in 2008, a technology transfer unit and the creation of a unit to support and develop collaborative projects.

The service dedicated to the industrial and commercial activities (SAIC) created in 2009 is a department in charge of the research transfer, it has participated to the construction of the budget of GEMTEX to support its development. The laboratory is actively involved in the activities of the scientific networks at international scale such as AUTEX or the Fiber Society.

The GEMTEX laboratory is visible and recognised at the regional (Région Nord Pas de Calais), national and international levels.

The scientific activities of GEMTEX are characterized by:

• high-quality scientific production,
• motivated contractual activity,
• strong scientific partnerships with laboratories in France and abroad,
• worldwide influence (organisation of scientific conferences, coordination of European projects),
• active contribution in the governance of 2 innovation clusters (UpTex and Picom) and in many national clusters (IAR, Techtera, Cap Digital, EMC2...).

The GEMTEX laboratory is currently based on three research groups within a strong textile team (expertise centres):

• HCD (Human Centered Design)
• MTP (Multifunctional Textiles and Processes)
• MTC (Mechanics - Textile Composites)

This teamwork concept is very important. The multidisciplinary textile research involves 5 scientific sections of the National Council of Universities within GEMTEX and 3 research groups with a wide range of competences from materials chemistry, mechanics, to control systems and industrial computing. The needs and the scientific obstacles in the textile research sector fully comply with such a structure.

ONE RESEARCH TEAM - ADVANCED TEXTILE MATERIALS

Education through Research

Education based on research is one of the priorities of GEMTEX. The training activities of the laboratory and its members are divided as following:

• MASTER INDUSTRIAL SYSYTEM ENGINEERING (Lille 1 University) section: Textile Materials and Processes. The aim of this speciality is to train graduate students to the technical textile materials and processes based on industrial processes and systems engineering.
• MASTER SCIENCE for "Materials and surfaces engineering» (IMS), (Arts et Métiers ParisTech). This master trains experts specialised in the Mechanics, Materials and processes Engineering.
• Doctoral Theses (48 Doctoral theses presented for the years 2008 - 2013)
• Post docs (7 Post Docs in September 2013)
• ERASMUS MUNDUS join Doctorate School: SMDTex (from 2013 to 2021)

GEMTEX Scientific output (2005 – 2012)

ISI Web of science referred journals with impact factor

Key figures about GEMTEX (77 Members)

• 8 Full professors
• 19 Associate professors
• 10 Researchers with qualifications for conducting research activities
• 8 Post doc researchers
• 24 PhD students
• 4 Engineers
• 4 Technicians
• 7 Administrative staff
• 3 Members from HEI