Technology and our economy in general, usually advance either by incremental steps (e.g. scaling the size and number of transistors on a chip) or by quantum leaps (transition from vacuum tubes to semiconductor technologies). Disruptive technologies behind such revolutions are usually underpinned by new form of materials with dramatic, orders of magnitude improvements in applications, which change many aspects of our life simultaneously, penetrating every corner of our existence. Wearable technologies present a market opportunity in excess of $53 billion [Soreon '15] in RCUK priority areas such as healthcare, wellbeing and Internet of Things (IoT). Current wearable technologies rely on rigid electronic components mounted on flexible materials such as plastic films. These offer limited compatibility with the skin in many circumstances, suffer washing and are uncomfortable to wear because they are not breathable. Turning fibres into functional electronic components can address these problems. Work is already underway to have synthetic fibres with electronic functionality. However, issues such as breathability, washability and comfort still remain, as these are properties associated with natural materials. This project will enable natural fibres such as cotton and wool to show basic electronic functions such as conductivity and light emission. SWIFT will demonstrate the potential of this approach, create impact and raise awareness. Further work would lead to greater functionality: i.e. sensing. SWIFT aims to demonstrate new cotton-based optoelectronic fibre components that offer breathability, washability and compatibility with the skin. The project will exploit existing nanomaterials, functional organic materials and polymer composite technology together with the know-how on nanotechnology existing in Cambridge to develop conductive and light-emitting cotton/cellulose fibres that could be woven to make fibre-based, stretchable conductive and light-emitting fabrics for future textile-based wearable displays, sensors or smart patches with potential applications in healthcare, wellbeing, IoT, lighting, sensing.

The UK's textiles and clothing industry makes a significant contribution to the economy employing over 130,000 individuals and is experiencing resurgence with production rising by 2.5% over the last two years to a value of £9.1 billion. E-textiles are an emerging and enabling technology with broad potential applications in many areas such as clothing, home furnishing, workwear, sports, medical, architecture and automotive. The e-textiles market is forecast to grow from $100 million to $5 billion by 2027. E-textiles can also be used in many other emerging areas such as wearable technologies and IoT. This proposal is to create an E-textiles Network community to bring academia, industry and end users together to identify research challenges and catalyst the collaboration to address these challenges. The e-textiles network will ensure widely dissemination and knowledge exchanges using variety of mechanisms. In particular, the annual two-day conference will bring the community together to disseminate the research findings and engage with industry and end users. While network will be co-ordinated by the University of Southampton, the priorities and activities will be driven by a steering board with balanced representation from a range of other universities, companies, end users and policy makers. The success of the proposed network will ensure the UK keeps its leading role in the innovation and manufacturing of e-textiles.

Technology and our economy in general, usually advance either by incremental steps (e.g. scaling the size and number of transistors on a chip) or by quantum leaps (transition from vacuum tubes to semiconductor technologies). Disruptive technologies behind such revolutions are usually underpinned by new form of materials with dramatic, orders of magnitude improvements in applications, which change many aspects of our life simultaneously, penetrating every corner of our existence. Wearable technologies present a market opportunity in excess of $53 billion [Soreon '15] in RCUK priority areas such as healthcare, wellbeing and Internet of Things (IoT). Current wearable technologies rely on rigid electronic components mounted on flexible materials such as plastic films. These offer limited compatibility with the skin in many circumstances, suffer washing and are uncomfortable to wear because they are not breathable. Turning fibres into functional electronic components can address these problems. Work is already underway to have synthetic fibres with electronic functionality. However, issues such as breathability, washability and comfort still remain, as these are properties associated with natural materials. This project will enable natural fibres such as cotton and wool to show basic electronic functions such as conductivity and light emission. SWIFT will demonstrate the potential of this approach, create impact and raise awareness. Further work would lead to greater functionality: i.e. sensing. SWIFT aims to demonstrate new cotton-based optoelectronic fibre components that offer breathability, washability and compatibility with the skin. The project will exploit existing nanomaterials, functional organic materials and polymer composite technology together with the know-how on nanotechnology existing in Cambridge to develop conductive and light-emitting cotton/cellulose fibres that could be woven to make fibre-based, stretchable conductive and light-emitting fabrics for future textile-based wearable displays, sensors or smart patches with potential applications in healthcare, wellbeing, IoT, lighting, sensing.