To complement the broad networking opportunities offered by existing large conferences, in September, STA launched its first community get-together with a more intimate targeted format. These small-scale, peer-to-peer meetings are designed to spark practical exchanges and promote opportunities for collaboration.
Our first gathering focussed on the challenges to adoption of Smart Textiles for healthcare. Here pioneers in the field revealed both the hurdles they’ve faced, and the creative solutions they have developed that are paving the way forward. Participants from across the full supply chain took part, from those developing textile cables and connectors, solutions that facilitate print of insulated circuitry to those developing welfare monitoring applications, technical textiles for the parachutes of the Mars lander and those who perform characterization and test of smart textiles.
Following inspiring presentations from key stakeholders in the industry, the group discussed everything from technological and commercial roadblocks to real-world success stories – and why collaboration is key to unlocking the future of wearable health tech.
Discussions made it clear that these innovators are driven by more than just technical ingenuity – they’re passionate about making a real difference. Their goals are not just to embed cutting-edge functionality into textiles, or even to make their products and devices truly “smart” at the same time as being truly textile, but to create solutions that profoundly improve people’s lives.
In fields as diverse as protecting workers from hand-arm vibration damage, monitoring respiration, movement and sleep quality to assistive technologies enhancing musical experience and providing muscle stimulation for multiple sclerosis patients, e-textiles are often not just an option they are clearly the best tool for the job. Not least due to their unmatched flexibility/conformability, comfort and robustness making them an obvious choice for applications in healthcare and defence sectors alike where strength and unobtrusiveness are essential. However, discussions revealed that in the immature market for smart textile health and welfare applications success depends on more than technological innovation alone. Strong branding and new alternative business models are essential to navigate this evolving landscape and bring these life-changing solutions to the market.
Despite the transformative potential of smart textiles in health and welfare, as the talk by Head of IP Commercialisation at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Debra Guest, highlighted the road to widespread adoption of solutions faces challenges from technical hurdles and regulatory complexities to translate inventions and developments into commercially viable products. However, discussions also made clear that these obstacles are not insurmountable. By sharing experiences, lessons learned and innovative approaches to adaptation of branding and business models, participants demonstrated how collaboration can turn challenges into opportunities.
A huge thank you to all, for your inspiring stories and willingness to share your experiences. This is precisely where a targeted, intimate format like ours is so valuable: we hope you appreciated the focused dialogue and practical exchanges as much as we did. Likewise, we hope you will join us for new events and activities in the future – and of course that you will get in touch if you can see opportunities to work with Trusted Suppliers and Ambassadors amongst our network!
More Info
Website: www.smarttextilealliance.com
Contact details: Anne Jensen, Business Development Director
Email: atj@smarttextile.org
