WEAR (Wearable technologists Engage with Artists for Responsible Innovation) Sustain is a two year project, funded by the European Commission's Horizon 2020 research and innovation initiative. It aims to engage creative industries to work more closely with technology and engineering industries.

There will be two Europe-wide competitions in April and October 2017, open for teams in art or design working with technology or engineering entrepreneurs to co-innovate and develop Next Generation Wearables and smart textiles that are critical, ethical and aesthetic.

For their first, now open, call WEAR Sustain is looking for 24 teams to develop compelling, innovative, ethical and sustainable solutions for wearable technology or e-textiles development, across all possible application domains. Partners can be found independentely or through their network of creative partners.

Up to €50,000 of funding is available to teams, which offers the means to jumpstart promising co-created concepts and receive support from experts towards the development of a prototype as a possible go-to-market trajectory.

The deadline for applications is 31 May 2017 and selected finalists will be invited to pitch to a panel of experts in the week of 21–23 June 2017. Teams must be prepared to work together on their prototypes from 1 July 2017, over a period of 6-8 months and the winners will be notified by 30 June 2017.

You can download here a full description of the open call programme or find out more about the initiative on the WEAR Sustain website.