University activities
Along with the contributions from different EU-projects there have been research activities in smart textiles at national levels carried on at a wide range of European universities. Some of the projects target smart textiles and clothing however, most of the projects have a focus on architecture, textile- and product design.
University of Ghent, Department of Textiles
The University of Ghent, UG, has been very active in research and education in smart textiles. Besides the contributions in different EU-project, UG has also operated in a number of national projects. In the “Textile Mobiel” project the state of the art in smart textile and wearable technology was combined in a party jacket prototype. The jacket comprised a flexible LED matrix that was wirelessly steered from a base computer can be worn while playing the social music and interactive game “Sync-in-Team”. Another project within the intersection of smart textile and clothing is an electrotherapeutic socks developed in the scope of European project Lidwine. This project focuses on the development of multifunctional medical textiles for the prevention and treatment of wounds. In order to prevent and heal wound electrical stimulation can be applied to enhance the blood flow. In this project prototypes of electrotherapeutic socks with integrated electrodes were integrated. The electrodes were either based on conductive silicones or elastic conductive yarns.
ETH – Zurich
The wearable technology group at ETH Zurich has been active in different EU-project, but has also carried out research on national levels. An example of such project is Smash. Smash is a shirt integrated with sensors and computing elements opening up for a wide range of possible applications. The motivation for this project was to develop a new versatile sensor platform that was integrated in a common shirt. If the clothing is equipped with motion sensors, it can provide feedback about the wearer’s movements or postures. Such information is helpful in rehabilitation or sports applications, where it is important that certain movements are executed correctly.