The history of textile production is mostly associated with Baron Theodor von Liebieg, one of the most successful and richest entrepreneurs of his time. Perhaps it is thanks to Liebieg's villa, town, lookout tower and extensive art collections managed by the Regional Gallery. Certainly, thanks to Textilana national enterprise, in which many of them made a living for years. Baron von Liebieg left a significant mark in Liberec and its surroundings in the field of industry, construction and culture. However, the trail does not end here, it is strongly imprinted in the minds of most Liberec citizens. Liebieg was a patron, an innovator. Not only in his field of specialization. When the automobile was invented, it didn't leave him cold. He was the first to hold a driving license in the Czech Republic. Together with business partners, he founded the RAF luxury car factory, which he later sold to Laurin & Klement.
After the revolution in the 1990s, the textile industry in the region underwent significant changes. Export-oriented entities paid the price for the changes in the global market and many of them had to cease production. Including the textile industry flagship, Textilana. In defence of the region, it can be stated that a similar scenario affected many other regions west of the Czech Basin. To this day, global competition is putting pressure on the development of local businesses' innovation activities. Thanks to the wide applicability of textile materials and technologies practically in all areas of life, the economic potential for further development of the textile industry in the region still persists.
Looking at the composition of textile industry in the whole of north-eastern Bohemia, we see a greater concentration of traditional production capacities in Hradec Králové and Pardubice regions. Vocational schools, research organizations and small and medium-sized companies focusing on the segments of textile, clothing and technical textile production are concentrated in Liberec Region. The development and production of textile machines constitutes specific knowledge. It is represented in the region by the traditional VÚTS research centre.
At present, the specific knowledge of nanomaterials, nanotechnologies and their applications constitute a notable regional phenomenon (we therefore deal with it in a separate chapter called Nanomaterials). The world patent for the industrial production of nanofiber registered by the team of Oldřich Jirsák from the Department of Nonwovens at TUL constitutes an extraordinary success of Czech science and research.
