The International Cotton Conference Bermen will take place in Germany from March 25 to 27, 2020. The conference will showcase latest developments and promising topics of the cotton textile supply chain and discuss the resulting challenges for the market. Science and industry will be equally represented. A session on alternative and previously little-known uses of this natural, renewable and biodegradable raw material in highly innovative and useful products will be hosted. The session will show that the use of cotton goes far beyond household textiles and clothing. In fact, thanks to its intelligent properties, cotton can also be found in technical products or in smart textiles. Cotton can be equipped with fluorescent, super-magnetic and water-repellent properties. This is not brought about by a chemical change, but biologically through the implementation of a specially developed glucose molecule in cotton. The development has the potential to be used in large formats in cotton-based functional materials and textiles. Padding for use in furniture is not made from oil-based synthetic fibers but from cotton and other bio-based natural fibers and are used in the area of home textiles (e.g. wallpaper) or for functional components for technical textiles and for clothing development.