From July 8 to 10, the 13th Textile Bioengineering and Informatics Symposium (TBIS 2020) was held online with the theme of “Science and Technology Innovation for COVID-19 Global Management and Control”. The symposium was jointly hosted by the International Society of Textile Bioengineering and Informatics, State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials (SKLFPM) Donghua University, University of Manchester.
Zhu Meifang, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dean of College of Materials Science and Engineering, and Director of SKLFPM Donghua University, and Zeng Xianyi, Professor of Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Ind (ENSAIT), jointly served as Presidents of the symposium. Yao Mu, Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering served as Honorary President, and Li Yi, Professor of University of Manchester served as President of International Scientific Committee.
The symposium attracted more than 340 experts and scholars from home and abroad, including well-known experts and scholars from the UK, France, the US, Czech Republic and Switzerland. At the symposium, Jiang Sunan, Minister Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in the UK, Yao Mu, Academician of Xi'an University of Technology, Zhu Meifang, Academician of Donghua University, Professor Dong Hongbiao of University of Leicester, Professor Fu Guangwei, Deputy Director of China Textile Information Center, Professor Gaoling, President of Xi'an University of Technology, Dr.Kajiwara Kanji, well-known scholar of Japan, Professor Zeng Xianyi of ENSAIT, Professor Xu Weilin of Wuhan Textile University, and Professor Li Yi of University of Manchester delivered opening speeches respectively.
In her speech, Zhu Meifang said that TBIS was a professional international academic conference in the application field of textile, garment and biomedical engineering. The conference was initiated by Society of Textile Bioengineering and Informatics in 2008, and had been held for 12 consecutive sessions. It was an international grand gathering for technical research in the field of textile and garment, and the theme of each session was closely related to global topical issues. As the first National Key Laboratory in the field of fiber and textile materials in China, SKLFPM had made an important contribution to the development of China into a big country of chemical fiber production and into a fiber powerful nation. In order to cope with COVID-19 quickly, SKLFPM launched an emergency response project of personal protective equipment (PPE-COVID-19) in February this year. The project had achieved remarkable results in the prevention and control of COVID-19, not only providing technical support for the first-line research, but also donating masks and protective clothing to front-line medical workers to resist COVID-19. Zhu Meifang also called for the establishment of International Digital Health and Intelligent Fiber Science and Technology Innovation Organization (IDH-IF-STIO) to gather global forces to promote cross-discipline, cross-industry, cross-country and cross-region joint innovation of industry, education and research, and build an international coordination platform of industrial ecological chain for digital, healthy and intelligent materials.
The symposium contained 21 theme reports, 2 parallel special reports and 1 online round table discussion session, with extensive and in-depth discussion on the key role of the textile material industry in the fight against COVID-19, including personal protection and infection control, increasing social distance, remote diagnosis, infector contacts tracing, epidemic digital surveillance, and epidemic management and control, etc. The symposium received recognition and appreciation from well-known people from all over the world, such as Professor Sundervel Amsamani from India, Professor Xungai Wang and Professor Jiri from Australia, Militky and his team from the Czech Republic.
At the symposium, International Digital Health and Intelligent Materials Innovation Association (Acronym:IDHIMIA) was found. The association was committed to strengthening international cooperation, cultivating top innovative talents in the field of fiber, enhancing frontier scientific research ability, striving for major discoveries, and promoting the rapid development of international intelligent fiber material science, intelligent electronic textiles, wearable devices, smart home, smart city, digital infrastructure, and digital health industry chain ecosystem, etc. It was a joint innovation and cooperation platform integrating industry, education, research and application, which was of great strategic significance to promote economic cooperation between Eurasian countries and regions. It was established with the joint proposal of SKLFPM (Donghua University, China), Provincial and Ministerial Co-Constructed State Key Laboratory for Intelligent Textile Materials and Products (in cultivation) (Xi'an Polytechnic University, China), University of Manchester (the UK), TBIS (the UK), ENSAIT (France), Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center (China), Haier (China) and other units, societies and enterprises. 40 founding members from 17 Eurasian countries and regions, representing 22 universities, 12 companies and 6 public, academic and industrial organizations, took part in the democratic election, and founded the administrative council and its executive committee. Zhu Meifang was elected President of the Administrative Council of IDH-IF-STIO, and Professor Li Yi was elected Executive Vice President. At the same time, 8 vice presidents representing 5 countries and research fields were elected to work together to develop an international industrial ecological chain of digital health smart materials and establish a global healthy community.
The symposium was co-organized by ENSAITE, SFR-TSM of France and Xi’an Polytechnic University, and was supported by institutions and organizations such as The Textile Institute, China Textile Engineering Society, Associate of British Chinese Professors (ABCP), Soochow University, Wuhan Textile University, Division of Fiber Materials and Composite Technology, Chinese Materials Research Society (FMCT, CMRS), Innovation and Talents Introduction Base of Advanced Manufacture Technology and Science for Fiber Materials, DHU, Shanghai “One Belt One Road” International Joint Laboratory for Advanced Fiber and Low-dimensional Materials, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA), Haier Group Company, SGS-CSTC, Wilson College of Textiles of North Carolina State University, TESTEX, Wuhan Tongji Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and British-China Association for the Promotion of Talent and Technology Exchange.
Source:College of Materials Science and Engineering
Editor: Sun Qinghua, Writer: Chen Liyun
