Berit Greinke

Researcher at University of the Arts Berlin, and German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI)

Berit Greinke

Researcher at University of the Arts Berlin, and German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI)

Biography

The roundtable “Sustainability in e-Textiles through Crafts and Design“ is an expert session, in which a panel of researchers and designers will work together with participants to address pressing questions around sustainability issues in the field of electronic and smart textiles. The focus will be on paths and solutions generated through crafts and experimental design, and how these can lead to more sustainable approaches in e-textiles, clothing and ICT production.

The roundtable is organised as an event of the WEAR project. WEAR (Wearable technologists Engage with Artists for Responsible innovation) is a 2 year project, funded by the European Commission Horizon 2020 research and innovation initiative to engage art, design and creative industries to work more closely with technology and engineering industries, to shift the development of the wearables and e-textile landscape towards a more sustainable and ethical approach.

WEAR fosters cross-disciplinary, cross-sectoral collaboration through the co-design and co-development of ethical, critical and aesthetic wearable technologies and smart textiles. The aim is to develop a framework within which future prototypes can be made, to become examples of what the next generation of wearables and e-textiles, could or should be. The project will lead new approaches to design, production, manufacturing and business models to help entrepreneurs, stakeholders and citizens become more aware of the issues involved in making and using wearable technologies, and demand better from technology companies, manufacturers and governments.

The outcomes of the roundtable will feed into WEAR’s “Sustainability Strategy“, a free online handbook that will be published the end of the project (January 2019) to enable citizens, entrepreneurs and other industry stakeholders to become more aware of the issues in making and use of electronic and smart textiles for wearable technologies, and to stimulate adoption of recommended best practices for the future of society.

Berit works as a researcher at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) in the group Interactive Textiles, and at Design Research Lab, Berlin University of the Arts Berlin. She completed a diploma degree in Textile and Surface Design at Berlin Weissensee School of Art, and an MA in Design for Textile Futures at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. She has gained a PhD at the Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) for Media and Arts Technology at Queen Mary University of London, in which she designed and analysed three-dimensional textile meta-materials.