Research at FAST

25 • Sweating Thermal Fabric Manikin “Walter” to Shanghai General Standard Textile Testing Technical Company Limited, by Prof. Jintu Fan • Fabric Defect Detection System to Guangdong Esquel Textiles Co., Ltd., by Prof. Calvin Wong • Foldable and Flexible Lithium Ion Battery to Epro Industrial Ltd., by Prof. Zijian Zheng • Personal floatation devices on board vessels as life-saving appliances to Global Sky International (H.K.) Company Limited, by Dr CK Chan One-size-fits-all Lifejacket to Honour Marine Safety Equipment Company Ltd., by Dr CK Chan ITC collaborates with industry to conduct high impact research through innovative design and technology. More than 30 companies between 2018-2020 have supported our projects as industrial sponsors. In addition, ITC has also received donations from industry to support our research students and research projects. Keen to share our knowledge, ITC transferred the following technologies to industry in 2018-2020: Institute of Textiles and Clothing Further examples include: Prof. Xiaoming Tao has led a multidisciplinary research team to develop new technologies in smart clothing and footwear systems, novel green antimicrobial and antiviral materials and textiles, as well as innovative textile manufacturing technologies. Over a dozen of these new technologies have been licensed to leading companies and start-ups worldwide for industrial application. Prof. Tao’s team have worked closely with 10 companies including some world-leading industrial giants, as well as 2 NGOs. Her past graduates have established several tech start-ups. Collaborating with large-scale textile companies (such as Jiangsu ZJA, New Material Co. Ltd. and Yiwu Huading Nylon Co. Ltd.), Dr Li Li is conducting pioneering and multidisciplinary research on green far-infrared (FIR) textile. This innovative textile helps enhance blood microcirculation and metabolic functions, enabling thermal preservation. This research integrates physics, optics and tex tile mechanisms, while traditional methods only focus on chemical treatments. Through theoretical simulation and national standard assessment, this textile performs higher FIR emission and better temperature preservation. It is also more cost-effective, eco-friendly and durable and exhibits high yarn quality. Specialising in textile technologies applied to healthcare and medicine, Dr Rong Liu leads a PolyU research team working closely with textile and medical industry partners and public hospitals on biomedical functional textile development. Their bio-compression textile series (including adaptive and double-progressive compression stockings, customized knee brace, 3D-Max-Active® athletic gear, Max-Guard® tech, etc) has led to 18 granted patents, 70 publications, 6 external research grants, 1 industrial standard and 8 product awards. Our Research Collaborations with Industry