Thrive were back in Berlin last week for the annual Wear-It Festival (Europe’s hottest conference on the intersect between wearable electronics and design). It was a super event and we had some great opportunities to talk with the community about all things Wearable Tech. It’s astonishing how quickly things are moving and the Festival is no exception, mirroring the growth of technologies and products in the Wearables space.
It really feels like the opportunities are starting to become manifested in plausible technologies, now further beyond the corridors of academia. It is great to hear that sustainable materials and approaches in the Fashion industry are making their way into supply chains at last. There is a long way to go but the signs are positive. It is also of note to mention the range of companies creating a new generation of technology startups, with purpose, user needs, well validated niche use cases, coupled with commercial realism.
Thomas Gnahm and his team have grown the Festival over the last few years and it was a pleasure and an honour to talk to the event’s audience about my passion for creating Meaningful and Purpose driven ventures and to engage closely with the community in a workshop we ran on just how easy it can be to bootstrap the first stages of product development and get to users with plausible prototypes for user testing.
Berlin is a wonderful city and the venue for the Festival was an absolute gem. Thanks to the team again for the experience and I look forward to next year’s event, where we will hopefully see even more maturity and progress in the world of Wearables.
By Jacob Skinner, Thrive Wearables Founder and Managing Director, Product Development expert.