November 1, 2015

Wearables have arrived, from fitness trackers to smart watches, and many have hailed this area as next wave of innovation. In some ways, it is the inevitable progression of the miniaturization of technology. But something interesting happens the closer devices come to our bodies. They become personal, expressive, a fashion statement. It's no longer just about what it can it do, it's what does it say about me. For example, the failure of Google Glass was not of the technology, which was incredible, but of what it expressed: most did not look favorably upon those who chose to wear them.

This month, we've featured the amazing work of the Shima Seiki Haute Technology Lab, which pushes the frontiers of what is truly wearable tech... Not just electronics strapped to our wrists, but systems fully integrated into fabrics, clothing, and other textiles. Founding director Genevieve Dion is a world class designer, and hers is a very Human Centered Approach, understanding that innovation in this field goes beyond function, but must be a combination of usability, comfort, and expression. And through this integrated and holistic approach, we can create even better things that are readily manufactured and that people will actually want to wear and use.

Make no mistake, there's incredible technical expertise required for this work. The interaction of fabrics, conductive fibers, biosensing, soft antennas, and knit energy storage, Is uncharted territory. It takes tremendous depth of knowledge and methodical research to make functional fabric-based devices. The challenges are huge, requiring intense collaboration with materials science, computer science, electrical engineering, communications, and a wide variety of disciplines.

Unique efforts like Shima Seiki Haute Tech Lab are the reason the ExCITe Center exists. We were created to be an incubator for such novel and creative research, and we believe our multidisciplinary, collaborative environment to be ideal for spawning such new enterprises, pushing Drexel to the forefront of creative research and innovation.

Youngmoo Kim, Director