Nonwovens Cooperative Research Center: A Resource for Research and Development, 1997 Nonwovens Conference Proceedings

The modern nonwovens industry became commercially viable in the 1970s using newly developed technologies radically different from weaving, knitting and paper making. Since then, the number of technological, raw and accessory materials available to the industry in the US has exploded. The industry has become a supplier of highly sophisticated products to consumer and industrial markets. It is both intensely innovative and competitive, with a high level of patent activity. The industry, worldwide, continues to be in a growth mode as shown in Table 1. Its research base, outside of the few large companies involved, remains very small. To keep the US nonwovens industry competitive globally, and to contribute to the regional economy in the Southeast (USA), the Nonwovens Cooperative Research Center was created in 1991 through a grant from the National Science Foundation, the State of North Carolina and industrial Members & Affiliates on matching funds basis. The funds so received are to be used to carry out core research. both basic and applied, motivated by industrial members and to develop mechanisms for active technology transfer.