TITK Director Benjamin Redlingshöfer also took part in a Thuringian business trip to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan at the end of September / beginning of October. The tour was intended to show new perspectives along the new Silk Road. The conclusion of the TITK director: "We look forward to future bilateral projects with partners from both countries."
The trip had been organized by the State Development Corporation of Thuringia and took the total of 25 participants first to the Kazakh capital Astana (until September still Nur-Sultan) as well as to the country's largest city, Almaty. The trip then continued to Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, which has more than two million inhabitants. The last stop led directly to the great Silk Road and into the world of fairy tales from 1001 Nights: Samarkand made a lasting impression on all participants.
Of course, the focus of this market reconnaissance trip was on establishing business contacts. Several company visits and discussion rounds with company representatives served this purpose. But also appointments with business and industry associations. TITK Director Benjamin Redlingshöfer was able, among other things, to establish valuable contacts with the Tashkent Textile Institute (Tashkent Institute of Textile and Light Industry ) and the national textile association of Uzbekistan (Uzbekistan Textile and Garment Industry Association). "There are several cooperation and business options for us there," Redlingshöfer summed up the journey.
Uzbekistan is one of the world's largest cotton producers and has a highly developed textile industry sector that is set to expand significantly. However, cotton production capacity is limited and increasingly seen as problematic due to high resource consumption and environmental impact. "This is where we could come in as a technology partner with our expertise in cellulose forming," says Redlingshöfer. "Our lyocell fiber is an excellent alternative to cotton and can also be functionalized in many different ways. This offers innovative solutions to secure local value chains while significantly increasing sustainability."
The TITK director is still impressed by the rapid development in Central Asia: "The region is rich in resources, many raw materials are available directly on site in sufficient quantities. And commodity trading also generates liquid funds that can be used to implement capital-intensive investment measures. The conditions for vertical integration of technological processes are therefore almost ideal. As a technology partner in materials research, we look forward to future bilateral projects."
