The government is looking to foster the struggling textile industry, hoping to transform it into one of the nation’s most competitive fields and a growth engine for the future.

The Ministry of textile said that it is working on a new development project that would increase support for super textiles as well as environment-friendly, nano and smart textiles.

The government said it will first collect opinions from professionals in the textile industry and then create a road map mostly centered on research and development projects. It hopes to develop the blueprint by the end of the first half of 2010.

According to the Ministry, the textile industry has proposed a plan that includes filtering 1.1 trillion won ($946.2 million) to 110 projects over the next 10 years. Among the projects, super textiles are considered to be the next-generation material in the textile industry.