Smart Fabrics

I mentioned a strategy meeting I attended at 3CR back in June. It's interesting how misunderstandings can occur at these sorts of meetings, attended as they are by people with different technical backgrounds. One such misundertstanding occured when someone put up a list of future areas of importantance which included the term "Smart Materials". I was familiar with the term as defined on the University of Alberta website:

• "Some such materials have the ability to change shape or size simply by adding a little bit of heat, or to change from a liquid to a solid almost instantly when near a magnet; these materials are called smart materials."

I couldn't immediately see how this area of material science was of research interest to 3CR; before I could ask about this, someone asked "What are Smart Materials?". It turned out that the presenter was talking about what I know as "Smart Fabrics" - textiles with interesting technical properties.

Why mention this now? It's easy - Smart Fabrics are Back in Fashon.