Chemnitz celebrates industrial culture between the past and the future

From technical textiles to the car power of tomorrow: Chemnitz University participates in the 8th Industrial Heritage Days from September 22nd to 24th, 2017.

For the eighth time, Chemnitz celebrates the Industrial Heritage Days from September 22 to September 24, 2017. This year a special anniversary is included into the event – 200 years Louis Ferdinand Schönherr, who together with his brother Wilhelm is the inventor of the mechanical cloth weaving loom in Saxony. Thus, in the framework of the Schönherr-year, numerous events will take place in the revitalized "schönherr.fabrik". A location that shows the long industrial history of Chemnitz and that made a valuable contribution to Chemnitz’ reputation as a location for mechanical engineering on a top level.

Innovations out of the university laboratories at the “RAW – the festival of industrial culture”

Main event is the “RAW – the festival of industrial culture”. Young and old are invited into the creative house "K40" in the "schönherr.fabrik", Schönherrstraße 8, on September 23 and 24. As textiles play an important part, different fields of Chemnitz University of Technology latest research results on everything around modern high-tech textiles. The Professorship Textile Technologies demonstrates aside from a novel knitted sports shoe, a with natural fibers reinforced longboard, and a carbon fiber-reinforced snowboard. The in the Professorship of Conveyors developed textile bicycle spokes can be put to test by the visitors in a test ride. The from the professorship emerging and established start up "PI ROPE" presents its current research and development. Another entrepreneurial team of Chemnitz University demonstrates its futuristic bike: The start up “bowbike” develops ultra-light bicycle frames made of carbon fiber. They want to revolutionize the market with their so called bowbike. But there is more: The Professorship of Conveyors currently optimizes thin high performance ropes for the use in stacker cranes. The "RAW"-visitors can pull themselves up with a hoist that works with a 3 mm thin rope. The creative house offers special activities for children: you can braid your own bracelet or knit a finger puppet. A hand knitting machine is also available and can be tried out under supervision. 

The children university connects them all

The children university is also among the many items on the agenda of the "RAW" festival on September 24. Starting at 2 p.m., junior students can experience the fascination of textiles. Heike Illing-Günther from the Sächsisches Textilforschungsinstitut (stfi), an affiliated institute of Chemnitz University, carries the juniors away in the wonderful world of technological textiles and tells stories of campus tents, race cars, and a couch you are allowed to eat chocolate on.

Kindergarten kids visit the “Wunderland Physik” (wonderland physics) in the morning shift

Kindergarten kids and elementary school children can discover in the morning shift on September 22, the true meaning of natural science and technology. In the “Wunderland Physik” of Chemnitz University, the little researchers visit a pupil laboratory. Two groups of the Chemnitz day care centers “Zwergenland” and “Groß&Klein” will ask questions which might become important in the future: What will power the car of the future – water, sun, or wind? Or all three energy sources combined? Exciting experiments with light and fuel cells will show the answers. “And if we are lucky and the sun is shining, we will show the junior researchers how to cook with sun light and solar technology”, says laboratory director Sascha Gruner.

Further information on the application for the Industrial Heritage Days and the "RAW" festival are available online at http://chemnitz-tourismus.de/de/veranstaltungen-erleben/tage-der-industriekultur/

Matthias Fejes
07.09.2017

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