Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr yesterday toured our new digs in Geelong and saw some of the innovative new materials we’ve been working on – like the 3D absorbent fabric in the next gen nappy from Huggies.

In one of our shiny new labs, he met CSIRO scientist Dr Niall Finn who helped Victorian company Textor Technologies to develop the fabric. Minster Carr was there to unveil the final stage of the Australian Future Fibre Research and Innovation Centre at Waurn Ponds (just outside Geelong, Victoria), which includes our new 4000 square metre Fibre Processing Building.

The facility was developed in collaboration with CSIRO, Deakin University and the Victorian Centre for Advanced Materials Manufacturing.

It’s the new home for R&D into hi-tech sustainable fibres and materials with uses across the manufacturing, defence, aerospace and health sectors. AFFRIC has created around 500 jobs and injected $160m into the region during the building and construction phase. Once the facility is fully operational, it is expected to bring $25 million each year to the regional Victorian economy.

Want to know more about our work with Textor Technologies? Click here.