What they create and where they live:
VUB a.s. Ústí nad Orlicí is the successor entity of the Research Institute of Cotton and Silk, founded in 1949 and known in the textile world as a company with many years of experience and tradition in the field of textiles and textile engineering.
The most significant part of the economic potential of VÚB a.s. today is it represents a special engineering production, focused mainly on the design and production of single-purpose and special machines and equipment. Activities in the field of applied research and development for the textile engineering and textile industries have been maintained and even gradually expanded.
As part of maintaining its textile tradition, VUB is currently focusing more on technical and functional textiles, where it takes advantage of knowledge and personnel capacity in a very promising and rapidly developing part of the textile industry.
What they are innovative about:
In the field of engineering, the company specializes in:
- custom development, construction and production of special single-purpose machines and equipment for new production technologies, including a complete service after putting the machines into operation
- development, construction and production of various handling lines, devices and equipment according to specific assignments and customer requirements
- increasing the technical level and operability of older machines and equipment, their renovation and modernization
In the field of applied research and development, projects and orders are solved for domestic and foreign partners, or for their own needs in order to use the results for their own business activities:
- research and development in the field of spinning machines and technologies (especially within the framework of long-term bilateral cooperation with Rieter AG and Rieter CZ s.r.o)
- research and development of technology for the production of special yarns and final products with the application of new generations of materials and fibers for non-garment and technical applications (reduced flammability, antibacterial, antistatic and others for special technical applications, protective clothing for healthcare workers, electrical industry, etc.)
- research and development of smart textiles and “e-textiles” (so-called wearable electronics)
- research and development projects are solved in cooperation with other partners from the academic resp. research (eg ZČU Plzeň, TUL Liberec, TU Dresden, STFI Chemnitz, SVÚM, CTU) and industry (eg member firms of the cluster of technical textiles CLUTEX) within various programs of public support for research and development (MPO, TAČR, CORNET, European operational programs)
Market operations and successes:
A number of solved projects were and are focused on the use of new functional textile materials and their application in textiles and final textile products. They are working on the development of:
- smart modular clothing and textile products with integrated electronic microsystems for improving health care for the aging population and the disabled, meeting the requirements for currently preferred home care options
- advanced solutions for smart textiles – on the targeted development of electrically conductive threads with the possibility of adapting their properties in terms of fineness, color, electrical conductivity and thermal resistance to user requirements
- new technologies and textile electronic components suitable for smart textiles, eg elastic conductive ribbons, for smart clothes and bed linen
- underwear for thermoregulation and thermal insulation, special products for the prevention of rheumatic problems and relief of joint pain
- textile products of all kinds for children affected by atopic eczema
It markets its own products under its own trademark Clevertex® .
What went wrong:
The company has limited capacity in terms of production and finalization of finished textile products. The pace and scope of implementation of the results of research activities does not fully correspond to the set intentions and goals of the company’s strategy.
VÚB a.s. seeks and also offers cooperation in this way to new partners who are interested in the mentioned innovative solutions. They are ready to look for and find such ways and forms of mutual cooperation that would lead to mutual benefit.
