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WEARSUSTAIN: Open Call 2 and fashion ecosystems

Organisers: Creative Ring, WearSustain , Ingrid Willems, DataScouts; Adriënne Heijnen & Marianne Ping Huang, Aarhus University.

Info about event

Time

Thursday 2 November 2017,  at 15:30 - 19:00

Ingrid Willems, DataScouts will be in Aarhus again in the context of the Creativity World Forum and she will share with us the progress the European project WEARSustain has made, the ideas behind and how to prepare for the next open call that will be launched in January.  

 

A few lightening talks will give insights in the Aarhus Fashion ecosystem, present the WEAR challenges and emphasises the sustainable angle to wearables. The short talks wil be followed by hands on work. The event is free and open for everyone, so please share this in your networks.

Organisers: Creative RingWearSustain , Ingrid Willems, DataScouts; Adriënne Heijnen & Marianne Ping Huang, Aarhus University

Targeted audience:

Artists, designers, tech, and other experts with an interest in fashion and design, e-textile and wearables.

Registration:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wearsustain-aarhus-tickets-38892344048

Website: http://wearsustain.eu

PROGRAMME

1530

Welcome & Intro

1545

Fashion ecosystem Central Denmark region

1600

Matchmaking

1630

Short lightening speeches

-     Challenges around wearables 

-     Sustainability and Wearables

1700

Work groups

1830

Presentation of the workgroups

1900

Wrapping up and drinks


The arts have been gaining prominence as a catalyst of an efficient conversion of science and technology knowledge into more innovative products, services, and processes . In line with a broader European strategy to enhance creativity and the innovative capacity in industry and society, the European Commission has initiated the STARTS Prize and has funded the WEAR consortium and others initiatives to boost synergies between artists and ICT experts (technologists) to enable Europe to benefit from the catalytic nature of the arts and culture across European society and industry.

WEAR focuses its engagement in collaboration, co-design and co-development of a new generation of ethical, critical, and aesthetic wearable technologies and smart textiles to influence change in industries practices and for a more circular economy.

WEAR aims to challenge artists and designers to work with technologists (engineers and programmers) in partnership to meet the meaningful potential of wearable technologies and smart textiles in society and industry.

Smart Wearables

Wearable technologies aimed at private consumers constitute a nascent market, expected to grow very fast. Their disruptive power is exemplified by the competition between established technology giants and start-ups.

Wearable technologies are body-borne computational and sensory devices which can sense the person who wears them and/or their environment. The data collected about the user or its environment are processed locally or on an external server, and the results are ultimately provided to the wearer.

New generation wearables will be flexible, fashionable and invisible. They will embed advanced features such as energy harvesting, efficient power management and very low-power high-performance computing. Future wearables will have to be shapeable, stretchable and washable/cleanable on-demand. Smart materials and digital technology in textile will allow smart textiles to sense, illuminate, communicate, transform energy, monitor health, and even protect from environmental hazards, providing them with advanced functionalities.

Nevertheless several factors inhibit the uptake of wearables: limited functionality, low level of comfort and body conformability, concern on data security, high production costs e.a. 

It is timely and urgent that critical questions on the use and deployment of the devices are raised, in a variety of ways, and that their users become more aware and educated about the critical side of developing wearable technologies, electronic textiles and smart fashion, as well as the related dimensions of aesthetics, sustainability, and environmental impacts.

The development of the wearables market relies on its capacity to break down barriers between creative industries and digital technology companies. These disruptive technologies open up new possibilities, notably for interdisciplinary collaborations between technology companies with artists/designers with technologists.

We invite you to actively participate to this cross-disciplinary workshop and engage in the future of wearable technology.

 

Adriënne Heijnen, PhD Senior Scientific Advisor/Researcher