Nonwoven Product Development and Innovation

The Nonwovens Institute (NWI) & North Carolina State University

March 24 - 27, 2026

From stage-gate to patent landscaping to market intelligence and decision making via a hands-on case study – attendees will be exposed to the full lifecycle of nonwoven product development.

The Nonwoven Product Development and Innovation Short Course is a dynamic training, combining classroom activities with a hands-on exemplar. Attendees will have the opportunity to work through options for creating a new nonwoven product, examining tradeoffs from raw material selection to cost basis to end-product functionality. In doing so, emphasis will be placed on how to effectively utilize the stage-gate process to explore feasibility in terms of material availability, manufacturing readiness level and costs.

If you attend this course, you will:

• Understand relationships and team dependencies between product design, manufacturing, purchasing, marketing and business disciplines.
• Learn critical product development methodologies and tools to help ensure success (patent landscape, innovation culture, commercialization strategy, etc.)
• Get hands-on experience with a real-world product development exemplar in NWI's state-of-the-art fabrication and testing labs, taking your product from lab to pilot scale and final testing.

Featured Topics Include:

• Product Development - Stage Gate
• Intellectual Property Considerations
• Market Research and Marketing Strategy
• Innovation Culture Practice
• Commercialization
• Sustainability and Circularity
• Design of Experiment
• Laboratory - Hands-on developing a specific produce utilizing NWI's world-class nonwoven production labs.
• Prototype Testing

Who should attend?

• Business and Product Development
• Finance and Purchasing
• Manufacturing and Engineering
• Process and Plant Management
• Quality Control
• Research and Development
• Technical Sales and Marketing

Course agenda and presenters subject to change.

INDA/NWI Member: $2,500
Non-member: $3,300