Wear Sustain, a collaboration between seven organisations across Europe, is a wearable technology project. It’s offering funding for teams of creatives and technologists to develop the next generation of sustainable wearables and e-textile ideas.

The program is seeking applications from teams of art, design, technology or engineering practitioners and businesses to co-develop compelling, ethical, innovative and sustainable solutions for wearable technology and e-textiles. It will help get great ideas off the ground and set a benchmark for ethics and sustainability in the technology field. The project represents an opportunity for people and businesses in different sectors to collaborate and also access real financial support and expertise in areas such as prototyping, business and venturing.

Competition applicants must address one of seven ethics and sustainability themes, such as manufacturing, waste, energy and health, as well as personal data and ethics, during the development of their prototypes. Wear Sustain’s goal is to develop best practices for future creative and technology collaborations. In addition, it will create sustainable and ethical innovation methodologies for wearable technology, smart and electronic textiles.

The program’s aim is to boost synergies between technology and the arts across Europe and highlight awareness of ethics in technology, using wearables and e-textiles to explore key issues such as personal data, ethics and sustainability in current technology use.