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We are still at the beginning of the digital revolution and there are huge opportunities on the horizon: the rise of wearable tech and the internet of things, and many more we don't even know yet.  This poses new challenges in the creative industries.  UALFutures organised a Co-Creating day to set up some ideas for how they can do this at University of the Arts London (UAL).   The mission is to create a digital toolkit for students; a space for students to explore the possibilities of new technology in their creative practise.  This was held on two separate days.  I decided to get involved as I am UAL alumni and also because I love innovation! So here's an insight to what happened and lessons learned...

CO-CREATING
Having diverse people = having diverse solutions.
Although we sometimes glorify the idea of the lone inventor or innovator, most innovation comes from people working together.  There were about 25 people and we were split into groups of five. And although the Digital Toolkit is for students, there was an equal mix of students, alumni, teachers, male, female, young, mature and industry professionals taking part.  This meant that the innovation would have a diverse range of ideas, skills, and knowledge from the past, present and future.

#Share and Learn.   It's not about YOUR idea, but what the group can generate..there's no personal Intellectual Property in Co-Creation!  There was no prep before we were put into teams - We generated all ideas in that team and that way all ideas however big or small would be heard, so there were lots of ideas on paper and we were able to select the best one(s).
6 year olds making computers
We listened to a presentation from @alecmolloy who most importantly was wearing some cute trainers - by Adidas/Issey Miyake and spoke about www.kano.me, an educational company for younger generations.  He made making a computer seem like a walk in a park...if 6 year olds are doing it? "You can do anything if you put your mind to it" he says to me, when I seek some reassurance that learning to code is difficult.  I agree with him - now I know that babies are building computers there really is no excuse now :)
The following week we had another day to generate new concepts from the ones we had already built on.  There were new people this time, and since I had the pleasure of attending both meetups, I found it amazing how new concepts had developed from the previous session ideas.  For example in the first week our group came up with the idea of a platform where students could share skills in short tutorials.  Then in the second week the new group I was in, we came up with the concept of crowd sourced skills tutorials.  



 We heard some amazing presentations from industry to help spark our innovation, such as Erik Rodin from Hyper Island who made a very important point about Innovation by making us get off our arses and go to the row in front / or behind.  This was annoying as I had  a good seat in the middle ;) but proved the point that not all innovation is necessary.  We need to remember that innovation is to make things better, not just innovate for the sake of innovation.  He also illustrated ( see pic below) how Google has innovated from simple search engine to google maps, google drive etc and who knows what next.

We also heard from Mike Johnstone, Cofounder of Technology will save us, and www.hirschandmann.com 




And also Prof. Fred Deakin from www.collabology.org who spoke about the science of collaborating creatively and how collaboration is a skill and even more important in post digital age. 

One thing is clear, this is going to be one of the best times to be a student!
And you might be able to see some of our innovation concepts come to reality at UAL's careers festival Artsmart. taking place on 9th July 2015.
I recently upgraded my iphone 4 and did the unthinkable...shock horror...switched to Android! Its taken a while to get used to but here's why the Samsung S6 is the better deal.  This phone has a hell of a lot of memory - 32GB - in comparison with the iphone 4 which starts with a measly 8GB which explains why I could only download a limited number of apps...having to delete an app to gain an app is not fun!  Yes, I was doing this anytime a new app I wanted came out because once you select a 8GB phone you can't upgrade.  So I have learned my lesson - hence why I powered up to 32GB!!!  Having said this, the battery on the Samsung S6 runs like Usain Bolt.  I'm not joking when I say it goes like a sand timer, literally 1% per second.  And the predictive text is a joke.  It's so frustrating that it predicts the most silliest of words in my writings...I never had this issue with the iphone or iPad, so it's probably a software design issue.  The screensize (5.1inches) is substantially bigger than the iphone 4 screen (3.5inches).  Which is excellent for watching videos, taking selfies, etc. 
The wireless charging unit was cool too - just put down and pick up and no pull out / untangling issued which put its wear and tear on many iPhone chargers which are not cheap to replace. The dealbreaker for me is the look.  It's made with metal and glass which makes the phone ten time better looking than the plastic iphone 4.  I got the chrome/gold finish which looks more like an accessory than a phone and gives it an expensive luxury look.  I know it sounds a bit shallow but it makes me feel part of the 'in-crowd'.  And the technology 'in-crowd' is cool.😜


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The 4th  Meetup by Centre for Fashion Enterprise, held at the London College of Fashion, 21st May 2015, was pretty exciting - we got to listen to a panel of fashion-tech start-ups and tech companies, and quiz them about the future of FashionTech, try out 3D body scanning and augmented reality.   Read on to find out about the latest in tech and the key topics discussed.

New Technology 

Augmented reality is all about experiencing real places using technology - I got to visit a bar in Hong Kong and it was really impressive as you can see with the photos.  You can turn around 360' and experience what you would see and hear as if you were there in real life. The Gear VR mobile device headsets will be available to buy in late 2015, (by Oculus in collaboration with Samsung). 
Experiencing the Gear VR and Augmented Reality.



3D Body Scanning - Your body measurements can now be done digitally in under a minute. No measuring tape needed!  However, it wasn't entirely accurate for me as apparently you need to wear clothing that's close to the skin as possible, but a great concept! I like the idea that Bodi.me can tell you your size for different fashion brands.
3D bodyscanned by Bodi.mi

The Future of fashion

The key word is #OptimiseOperations ...how the whole system from designing fashion  to selling it on the shop floor is going to be smarter.

#Smartfactory - this is a space which everything in chain is connected, monitored and can be changed through an actuator. 

#SmartFashionStores - the preferences of consumers are monitored. 

#SmartShelving - if clothes are tagged, you know in realtime what is there and what is not.  For example all Costa express machines are connected so you know when they need refilling.

#IndoorNavigation....using NFC, Beacons technology - which understand and anticipate what you are looking for. 

#ConnectedData - Retailers know what you are going to buy before u get there there.

Beecham Research: Smart Fashion Store 


Beecham Research: Smart Retail Spaces 



Big Data 

Chris, Cofounder of Eunoia, a startup predicting trends through data, gave a lot of insight in using Psychographics and Emotional Intelligence to identify customer.  This is important as rather than a generic person, marketers can speak to customers as if they know them. It was really interesting to know, for example, how the "Wrangler" customer compared to the "Abercrobie & Fitch" customer.


Security by Design
Internet security is a complex issue and The Internet of Things (IOT) escalates the security attacks.  Brands need to incorporate security in the design.  The key message was frightening...We have no guarantee for security in IOT as consumers. Later on I had a long chat with Chris about this...and I was fascinated with internet security and how much we as consumers don't know.  So please check back soon for a future post on Security and IOT.


Whats Trending?


ChicByChoice 







Fashion changes and its fast moving.  Technological advances are making it even faster. But lets not forget, you cant have trends without people. The cause of trends are people creating a behavior.  
The Electronic Dress 1956

#WhatWillYouMake ?


@ccwPostDigital

Now you have Raspberry Pi and Intel Edison and 3D printers. These things are fueling the imagination and convincing creatives / entrepreneurs to take a chance. The Chelsea Jam is an event for Makers, Creatives, Artists etc to learn contribute and share.  The first event was May 13th 2015. Here are some of the things I learned and experienced at the event.
technologies post 2008

#LittleComputer
Understanding tech terminology can be a challenge but thanks to CCW Tech Specialists who explained that "Arduino" and "Rasberry Pi" are simply little computers - there are differences of course, e.g. the latter also connects to the internet.  These little computers are what allow the magic to happen...translating the sensors / data into whatever the output you want it to be.
Raspberry pi enabling touch sensors to convert to musical sounds




Digital Woven Design in action

E-textiles is a relatively new but growing concept in fashion tech, but do consumers want electronic clothing or do they want their favourite clothing items to be functional?

Isn't it funny how the sun dictates our mood? This is why I liked the idea of Solar-Technik which explored how sunlight can be replicated digitally. The slightest change of light intensity - not detected by the naked eye - is depicted digitally and made visible.  This, I imagine, could be used in a lot of scenarios where you wanted to replicate daylight.

Solar-technik 

On display were lots of examples of digital creativity including 3D Printing Technology and...

Digital Printed Textiles
Digital Printed Textiles

Digital Making in the Arts...
A sculpture that produces bubbles digitally.

Other Stuff & Random Conversations at Event 

  • Bob Marley playing in the background certainly helped to create an enjoyable atmosphere at the event.
  • London College of Fashion is moving to East London! But it will be 6 years before you can be a LCF E20 student.  The campus will be especially dedicated to art, design and engineering.  Alongside it will be a new gallery space for the V&A Museum - V&A E20 dedicated to the expanding and developing world of digital art.
  • Your body is electricity and has electric currents running through it!
I discovered there's a growing Maker Community in London, with new Maker communities including 'FabLabLondon' at the event. I'm looking forward to the next event; London is fast becoming the place for Makers, Fash-Tech, Creative Tech, you name it, it all takes place here!
I recently wrote an article for Retail Futures on The Connected Consumer and how Retailers are meeting their needs.
mya

You can check it out here!
Head over to Retail-Futures.com to see my guest blog post on 5 UK retailers innovating the shopping experience using technology.


Back in November 2014 I went to Tech Fundamentals Live.  An event all about funding and investment for tech start ups.  I've always been a firm believer that if you want to be the best you need to learn from the best - it's not where you are but where you want to be. ;)

The keynote speaker was Sherry Coutu CBE - a business woman who is someone to have on the radar. She wrote the Scale-Up Report which is all about Scaling Up!  :)  It's a great report with stats and useful info on the UK Economy Scale Up market. I haven't managed to read it as yet but luckily I was there to hear from Sherry Coutu herself, in which she explained some of the main points of the report.
From The Scale-Up Report


The main points I gathered from her presentation were:


  • A ScaleUp is not a StartUp is - A scale up grows customer orders or employee numbers by 20%
  • The common business term SME (Small Medium Enterprise) should be changed as small wil not always remain small.
  • Finance is not the issue - work on Leadership then seek finance; leadership skills come first.
  • When deciding which company to fund the things they look for in a start up are; Motivation of the entrepreneur - why they want to solve that problem? Is it something they will continue to do in 10 years?  As a Venture Capitalist, they need to want to solve the problem you are solving aswell.  Also how emotionally stable you are is important.  And are you analytical? Are you thinking about the company culture? For example how you explain your business to the investors is an indication of how you will talk about your business to your staff. And how motivated are you? What have you sacrificed?
  • And one point I really remembered that hit hard was - Investors aren't there to make your dreams come true, but to make a return on their money.  Its not the X Factor but I Factor (Investment factor)
  • And finally, find a Cofounder. - Really successful companies start with two people.
Let me know what you think?