Collaborative innovation and value recreation under co-opetition ecology

By+Zhao+Zihan

“2017 China Textile Innovation Conference ·Product Summit” was successfully held in Fuzhou on July 28th - 29th， 2017， sponsored by China National Textile and Apparel Council， organized by China Textile Information Center and China Textiles Development Center， co-organized by Fujian Hengshen Group， and supported by Zhejiang Yuhua Holding Group.

Co-opetition is inevitable & Collaborative innovation is the key

“It is a critical transition period for Chinas textile industry to become powerful from big， plus the increasingly improved innovative environment under the sup- port of related policies， capitals， as well as the network and talent platform， innovative development has become the industry consensus. For Chinas textile industry， a system of competitive advantages have been forming， showing great potential of industry collaboration. Cooperation has become an important source of competitive advantages， while co-opetition is the current pattern of the worlds textile industry.” Sun Ruizhe， President of China National Textile and Apparel Council， comprehensively expounded the status quo of Chinas textile industry， analyzed Chinas textile product development market situation and the innovation driving force in future development， and explored the efficient co- opetition of product development and the system path of value recreation.

He pointed out that， with the diversification of consumer demands， the accelerated iterative velocity， and the depth of intelligent integration， the competition between enterprises has begun to change into the competition between supply system and innovation ecology， and the collaborative innovation is inevitable.

“Since the industry co-opetition has become normal， product development has been presenting a series of new characteristics such as sustainable innovation， open innovation， and systematic innovation. In the new period， to complete the goals set for the 13th FiveYear Program for the industry， Chinas textile industry is required to focus on product development and technological innovation to promote industry collaboration innovation and value recreation while taking technology transmission， intelligent efficiency， cultural power， and internalized responsibility as the acting points.”

“ ‘Co-integration of the power of science， technology and fashion， Co-promotion of the effective supply of products， Co-building of a collaborative competitive system， and Co-sharing of innovative value strategy as the subject， the summit aims to make a multi-dimensional interpretation of the major meaning of the supply side reform as well as the core of the strategy to ‘increase varieties， improve quality， and create brands. The summit is to comprehensively analyze both domestic and overseas market competition environment and consumption demand changes， to explore the high value-added product development system both in science & technology and fashion， to explore the construction model of enterprise value chain competition and cooperation system， to share the cross-border innovation thinking and competitive advantages， in order to help enterprises to develop market-oriented product innovation strategy to achieve the use of limited resources for product value recreation of effective demand.” Qiao Yanjin， Director of China Textile Information Center， introduced that China Textile Innovation Conference has seen 18 continuous sessions with a total of 28 conferences since its inception in 1999.endprint

“Shenyuan New Materials from Hengshen Group witnessed successful one-off operation of an integrated project with an annual output of 400，000 tons of caprolactam， enjoying the realization of the industrial chain integration “caprolactam - polymerization - spinning- texturing - weaving - dyeing and finishing”. The ultimate goal of innovation is to make it true， therefore， research and development should be down to earth for promotion and innovation based on existing products. Chen Jianlong， Chairman of Fujian Hengshen Group said， Hengshen attaches great importance to R&D investment， and has successfully established the R&D system and equipment of the whole industrial chain from polymerization to spinning and then to dyeing and finishing. Meanwhile， the Group also actively participated in a number of national and industry standards revision， and set up a number of special research and development issues together with some national research institutes including Donghua University and Minjiang University.

“Chinas textile industry has a strong innovation gene， and its innovation process has had a profound impact on peoples lives. During the 12th Five-Year Program period， the above-designated textile enterprises saw increased new product development investment by 21%， while the new product sales witnessed a growth of 42%. The R&D investment in new textile products is significantly higher than the average return on industrial investment.” In this regard， Cao Tingrui， Director of Textile Department of Consumer Goods Industry Division of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology， stated that the purpose of innovation is mainly to solve the users problem： one is to find a blank market and the problem never solved， while the other is to use new methods to solve the problem.

Co-share the innovative value strategy & Co-build the collaborative and competition system

During the conference in the morning of July 29th， Yu Jianyong， academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering， and Li Jiang， CTO of Microsoft（China） Co.， Ltd.， shared the status quo of global textile technology and information technology development， and discussed the future development trend and the innovative application of frontier information technology in Chinas textile industry. Jing Ming， President of Koradior Holding Co.， Ltd.， talked about the practice experiences such as product development and innovation strategy， product competitive advantage construction and brand transformation and upgrading.endprint

In the two forums in the afternoon， “Know the Situation - Market Competition Strategies” and “Discuss the Strategy - Product Value Recreation”， the speakers from China National Garment Association， National Garment Standard Committee， Productivity Promotion Department of China National Textile and Apparel Council， CCPIT TEX， DT Innovation， Shandong Ruyi Wool Textile Group Co.， Ltd.， Shandong DAIYIN Textile and Garment Group Co.， Ltd.， Koradior， and VICUTU， from different perspectives and fields to give various interpretations to the competitive strategy analysis based on consumption research and market-oriented product innovation model， in order to identify the trend of co-opetition and search for the way to product value recreation. There was not only the status quo of the global industry and the future trend analysis， but also the down-to-earth application programs of specific design innovative thinking and artificial intelligence； not only the market competition strategy to seek consensus， but also the effective exploration of product value recreation.”

“The summit set up a communication platform for the whole industrial chain from Hengshen Group in the upstream to such excellent brands as Koradior and VICUTU in the downstream， providing opportunities and a bridge for customer resources cooperation and competition. It made an analysis of the industrial environment from consumer demand， market economy， technological progress， industrial structure， and industrial economy to explore the effective path of product competition.” Li Binhong， Director of China Textiles Development Center concluded in the conference that the co-opetition of cross-border resources including Internet， big data， cloud platform， and artificial intelligence will bring more possibilities to make new changes in Chinas textile and garment industry. The ultimate goal of product co-opetition is to achieve effective value recreation， to build the innovation system of value recreation including product strategy， product elements， industrial chain， and digital transformation. The collaborative innovation of the whole industrial chain will work together to create new consumption competitiveness of costeffective performance.

In addition， an exchange meeting themed “New Trend， New Materials， New Applications” was held during the first day of the summit， when experts and scholars made detailed interpretation around the textile fabric trends， product development and prospects in the field of textile and new materials， focusing on the market applications and innovation trends of nylon products.endprint

A series of activities were also held at the same time， including “2017 Top Ten Innovation （Popular） Textile Product Selection Launching Ceremony”，“Fabrics China Trends Research and Release Union- Trend Research Center Awarding Ceremony”， and“Fabrics China （Pattern） Trends Research and Release Union Strategic Partner Awarding Ceremony”.

INDA， the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry， is extending the nomination application deadline for two of its awards — the Lifetime Technical Achievement Award and the Hygienix Innovation Award？ — to the new date of August 30， 2017. Both awards will be presented at the third edition of Hygienix – the premier event for absorbent hygiene & personal care markets， Nov. 6 - 9， at the Renaissance Austin Hotel， in Austin， Texas.

INDAs Lifetime Technical Achievement Award is presented to individuals who have a long established technical career in the nonwovens/engineered fabrics industry. This professional will possess a history of technical innovation resulting in new products and processes. The Award information is available online.

In 2016， the INDA Lifetime Technical Achievement Award was presented posthumously to nonwovens educator， and consultant， Edward A. Vaughn， Ph.D. Professor Vaughn was also the recipient of the IDEA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007， having served as Managing Editor for the Journal of Engineered Fibers and Fabrics and Department Head and then Director of the School of Textiles at Clemson University from 1977 through 1989.

The Hygienix Innovation Award？ recognizes a new product or technology innovation in the absorbent hygiene and personal care industries that uses nonwoven and engineered fabrics in novel， technically sophisticated， and uniquely creative and expansive ways. Award information is available online http：//www. inda.org/awards/hygienix-innovation-award.html

Last years Hygienix Innovation Award？ was presented to Sustainable Health Enterprises （SHE） for their Go！ Pads， a banana fiber-based， low-cost feminine pad that sustainably delivers affordable hygiene for women and girls in Rwanda.

In 2016， the Hygienix event attracted more than 500 industry professionals to advance their business with the newest developments in the important， growing， and largest of the nonwovens segment — absorbent hygiene and personal care.

The conference will explore compelling content in these relevant areas： Brand Disruptors， Incontinence Perspectives： Consumer & Institutional， Product & Positioning Opportunities， Diapers： Smart & Sustainable， Feminine Hygiene Disruptors， Thin/Pulpless Absorbent Products， Odor Control， Game Changers in Machine & Technology Development， Retail and Demographics， and Material Science Developments. The event also includes tabletop exhibit displays， dining with industry thought leaders， an absorbent hygiene products workshop， and the presentation of the INDA Lifetime Service Award.

The INDA Hygienix Innovation Award will recognize innovation in hygiene areas such as： consumer or institutional end products， end product components， or fabrication techniques that use nonwoven fabrics in a way that expands the usage of nonwovens. Nominees will be selected from various disposable and durable product categories and disruptive technologies that directly pertain to the hygiene industry.endprint