GALACTICA project, coordinated by the Catalan Cluster of Advanced Textile Materials – AEI Tèxtils, organized the first in-person group coaching session in Porto with its beneficiaries from its two calls for proposals.

More than 25 people participated in this event, including Salvador Aymerich, General Manager of the cluster member CINPASA, who was recently awarded with an Orbital Project to develop smart tapes for aerospace applications.

The event was introduced by Miguel Vaz, Project Manager at AEI Tèxtils as coordinator of GALACTICA, presenting the key ambitions of the project and main support mechanisms available, both financial and non-financial support.

Afterwards, the GALACTICA partnership introduced a series of interactive workshops to promote networking among the participants, to find synergies among the different projects funded and to plan for scaling up solutions. During the second day, participants had the chance to pitch their projects to investors to improve their sales skills and receive feedback on how to better succeed in market launch of their innovative projects.

In total, GALACTICA has awarded over 2.9M€ in direct financial support for SMEs across Europe to develop innovative projects combining textile, aerospace and advanced manufacturing. AEI Tèxtils positively evaluates the implication of the cluster members in the different activities of GALACTICA and their success in both open calls with cumulative grants awarded over 300k€.

GALACTICA is a key strategic project by AEI Tèxtils to promote technological innovation and new business models as a driver of growth and competitiveness of SMEs in the sector. It serves to promote cooperation among partners and with other innovative systems such as aerospace and advanced manufacturing. Its strong cross-sectorial approach enables the generation of business opportunities and cross-sectoral innovation, promoting transversal cooperation to develop novel applications and markets.