On June 10, 2025, a workshop was held at the Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design as part of the implementation of an international educational project Erasmus+ InnovaTex "Innovation in Smart and Digital VET Skills for Advanced Textile Industry". The event brought together representatives of business, light industry clusters, public organizations and academic institutions from Ukraine and Moldova. The organizers of the event are Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design and Kherson National Technical University.
The moderators of the event from KNUTD were Kalyna Pashkevych, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Design and Olena Gerasymenko, PhD, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of the Department of Art and Fashion Design; from KNTU – Mariia Artemenko, PhD, Associate Professor, First Vice-Rector and Larysa Ponomarenko, Acting Head of the Department for Educational and Scientific Work and International Activities.
Among the participants of the workshop were Bohdan Kass, designer, entrepreneur, founder of the KASS brand, owner of the Factory KASS clothing production (Kyiv); Iryna Makhinko-Dumih, director of brand clothing studio "І-CHEF by Irina Makhinko" (Kyiv); Maryna Polikarpova, designer, head of the design bureau "Design Laboratory" (Kyiv); Golda Vynogradska, designer, head of the National Industry Partnership Fashion Globus Ukraine; Olga Ostapchuk, Chief Technologist of PJSC "Edelvika" (Lutsk); Oksana Zakharkevych, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Director of Private Enterprise "Technology Consulting", Coordinator of the European Digital Innovation Hub Clothing Technology and Textile Hub (EDIH Clotex-HUB) (Khmelnytskyi); Tetyana Pushkarova, textile processing development manager of "Reinventex", a subsidiary of LLC "K.tex" (Irpin); Galena Shvets, cluster manager of Podillia Fashion Cluster (Khmelnytskyi); Nataliya Maslo, LLC "Maslo Nataliya", EDIH Clotex-HUB communicator, Clusters4Regions team representative (Khmelnytskyi); Oleg Demchuk, Chairman of the Board of the NGO Sustainable Development Agency "ASTAR" (Khmelnytskyi); LLC "Production Enterprise Promodyag» (Kherson); Anastasia Veklich, Head of Design and Technology Department, "Promo Tex" (Kyiv); Volodymyr Sherstyuk, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs, KNTU; Oksana Khodan, PhD, Associate Professor, Deputy Director for Educational Work, Lviv Professional College of Fashion Industry of KNUTD; Svitlana Kuleshova, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of Technology and Design of Garments, Khmelnytskyi National University; Hanna Shchutska, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Director, Kyiv College of Applied Sciences; Nadiya Matryuk, Acting Director, Economic and Technological Professional College of KNTU; Maria Rastorgueva, PhD, Associate Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Integrated Technologies of KNTU; Natalia Chuprina, Doctor of Arts, Professor, Head of the Department of Art and Fashion Design, KNUTD; Olga Yezhova, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor, Professor of the Department of Graphic Design of KNUTD; Lyudmyla Melnyk, PhD, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of the Department of Art and Fashion Design, KNUTD; Valentyna Yevtushenko, PhD, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Commodity Science, Standardization and Certification of KNTU; Nadiya Lyuklyan and Anastasia Yukhymchuk, postgraduate students of the Department of Art and Fashion Design, KNUTD; Marcela Irovan, PhD, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Textile Design and Technology, Technical University of Moldova; Elena Florea-Burduja, PhD, Technical University of Moldova; and other representatives of the business and academic community: Olga Ukhanova, Maryna Rozhkova, Iryna Kononenko, Hanna Suvorkina, Olga Smulska.
With a welcoming speech and presentation of the organizing institutions the workshop participants were addressed by Kalyna Pashkevych and Mariia Artemenko.
Olena Gerasymenko and Larysa Ponomarenko presented the project's goals, description of activities, implementation period and expected results Erasmus+ InnovaTex. As part of the event, the participants were presented with a list and advantages of the equipment and software that are planned to be purchased, in particular the 3D modeling software Style3D Studio.
8 partners from Romania, Greece, Italy, Ukraine and Moldova were involved in the project: National Research and Development Institute for Textiles and Leather (project coordinator), University of West Attica, Organization Creative Thinking Development, Italian Centre for Permanent Learning, Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design, Kherson National Technical University, Technical University of Moldova, Public Institution Center of Excellence in Light Industry from Chisinau.
During the lively discussion, representatives of the industry confirmed the importance of creating a smart laboratory on the basis of KNUTD and KNTU as a development of institutional potential. The participants also discussed the topics of training modules that will be developed within the framework of the project Erasmus+ InnovaTex, and trainings planned to strengthen the capacity of stakeholders in the fashion industry, including the textile industry.
Business representatives Olga Ostapchuk, Bohdan Kass and Maryna Polikarpova noted the importance of improving digital and smart skills in the fashion industry, including the textile industry.
Halyna Shvets expressed her thoughts on the further digitalization of processes in the fashion cluster, and Tetyana Pushkarova emphasized the importance of training specialists with an understanding of environmental technologies and innovations in design and production.
Oksana Zakharkevych emphasized that the development of the industry requires not only innovative technologies, but also trained specialists. Interest in the project was expressed by Oksana Khodan, who confirmed interest in the project from the side of professional pre-higher education, Svitlana Kuleshova from the side of higher education, and support for the project was expressed by colleagues from other educational institutions of Ukraine and Moldova.
The organizers of the workshop from KNUTD and KNTU summed up and thanked all participants for the constructive discussion, confirmed their readiness for further cooperation and further development of the project and capacity building.
16.06.2025
