Q+A with Christian Dalsgaard of Smart Textile Alliance
Image Credit: Nick Gregan
We are privileged to have had the opportunity to sit down with Christian Dalsgaard, CEO of the Smart Textile Alliance, to discuss the newly formed organization and his views on this growing industry!
Q: WHAT IS THE SMART TEXTILE ALLIANCE AND WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO FORM THIS ORGANIZATION?
A: Smart Textile Alliance (STA) was formed as a not-for-profit company aimed at advancing e-textile technology through the development of industry standards and fostering development of plug and play components.
My business partner Mili Tharakan and I both have extensive experience in the field. After becoming frustrated at the scattered supply chain and lack of interoperability in the Smart Textiles industry, STA was established in October 2020.
Mili is a seasoned inventor-business leader in the field of smart textiles since 2004, and I am the founder and former CTO of Ohmatex A/S. We were inspired to form STA after inspiration from disruptive founders of USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) and Bluetooth Special Interest Group (BSIG). We know that electronics, textiles and many other industries that faced growth challenges have successfully overcome them through the formation of a neutral standards body and certification programs.
Q: WHO WILL YOU WORK WITH ON ADVANCING THE INDUSTRY AND DEVELOPING SMART TEXTILE STANDARDS?
A: We are looking to collaborate with companies from an array of different backgrounds, who have technologies that can be lifted to a standard for use within the whole e-textile industry. Through our work with our clients, we aim to develop industry standards.
To drive standards, we know that we will need support from tech giants, but we are reaching out to everyone who wants to make electronics soft and textiles smart. Our role as an independent body is to unite industrial partners, facilitate the standardization work and certify solutions that are interoperable.
We know that it will take time before our mission is complete. On our journey we are engaging with Ambassadors that are key players in terms of networking, research, laboratory facilities, test methodologies and market intelligence.
Q: WHAT ARE SOME KEY OBJECTIVES/GOALS OF THE SMART TEXTILE ALLIANCE?
A: Smart Textile Alliance is in its early stages of formation/development. The highest priority is to create a universal connector for smart textiles – a washable plug and play system that links yarns and fabrics to electronics. This is urgently needed across the fast-growing industry of next generation wearables for defense, sport and fitness, healthcare and wellness, fashion, automotive and home furnishings.
A standardized connector will reduce the risk of short-lived solutions and solve many of the sustainability concerns among potential developers, which is in turn holding back investment.
Q: DOES THE EU HAVE ANY STANDARDS IN PLACE FOR SMART TEXTILES? IF NOT, IS THIS SOMETHING YOU WILL WORK ON?
A: The EU and many others are promoting standards for smart textiles, however existing standards are descriptive and lack industry buy-in. STA seeks to create common design solutions that are supported by the key players in smart textiles, and which have a business potential for the manufacturing partners that join our mission.
We see Smart Textile Alliance not as a standardization organization, but as a professional forum for fine tuning and deciding on components that fit into a layered stack, so that you don’t need to build things from scratch. With this approach, developers of smart textiles should only care about what’s essential for their product; whether it’s the fabric-based sensors, motion and posture capturing units, cloud applications or the fashion design element.
Q: WHAT ISSUES/CHALLENGES CURRENTLY FACE THE DEVELOPMENT AND COMMERCIALIZATION OF SMART TEXTILES?
A: The smart textile market is growing across many industries. Having worked in the industry for 20+ years, I can see absence of standardized plug and play component is slowing the industry. It’s difficult to build scalable solutions due to the lack of "interconnecting" methodologies. Everyone facing similar bottlenecks and product development issues, and this results in high cost of production.
We also see a scattered supply chain that is leading to high levels of failure and frustration when developing products. The bottom line is that we have an emerging technology that is struggling without a coherent ecosystem. There are numerous examples of smart textiles products that did not hit the market and remain just prototypes.
My personal belief is that it is very common for all new technologies, and we can learn a lot from how other industries facing similar challenges have successfully overcome them through the formation of strategic alliances and development of interoperable solutions.
Q: HAVE THERE BEEN ANY NOTEWORTHY MILESTONES IN THE DEVELOPMENT/USE OF SMART TEXTILES OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS? FOR EXAMPLE, LARGE COMPANIES UTILIZING THE TECHNOLOGY.
A: I can mention several large companies that are doing research and development in smart textiles. Start-ups, such as the company Ohmatex that I founded in 2004, are on a successful commercial track with products based on smart textile technology. However, it’s not one single milestone, but many incremental developments that have taken off. The last five years have been characterized by a movement from governmental supported projects to mature commercial products.
Q: WHAT INDUSTRY WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE USE SMART TEXTILES MORE (MEDICAL, AEROSPACE, AUTOMOTIVE, ETC.)?
A: Smart textiles have a role to play in all areas where softness and conformability is an issue. The trade-off is cost, and robustness compared to traditional solutions. Both medical, aerospace and automotive are well established industries and penetration into the market would take longer. It’s not possible to push technologies into these sectors without demonstrating a significant improvement in sustainability and cost of manufacturing. Smart Textile Alliance is founded to address these issues together with smart textile developers.
Q: WHY DO YOU BELIEVE SMART TEXTILES ARE A LARGELY MISUNDERSTOOD TECHNOLOGY, AND WHAT CAN WE DO TO REMEDY THIS?
A: I do not consider smart textiles to be a misunderstood technology. However, it has happened far too frequently where researchers and scientists in large organizations have showcased prototypes that appear to be promising but in reality, cannot be put in a washing machine and are not affordable for consumers. The only remedy to this is by focusing on the unique functionality that smart textiles technologies can offer.
In terms of softness and conformability of electronics to the skin, smart textiles are second to none. They don’t just have to be worn on the wrist, but can be worn on any place on the body without the use of adhesives or unpleasant straps. Furthermore, outside of the wearables sector, smart textiles open up whole new design features with electronics embedded in fabrics.
Q: WHERE DO YOU HOPE TO SEE THIS TECHNOLOGY BY SAY, 2025?
A: I am frequently asked about the future of smart textiles and what the ‘killer application’ will be. I don’t think that you can predict the future that easily. Smart Textiles have already found their way into many applications in health and sport with new products being launched every day. This is a natural evolution of wearable solutions and the further development of flexible electronics. In 5-10 years’ time, Smart Textiles may well be less of a discrete technology and far more of a common place product.