Design, Automation & Test in Europe Conference (DATE 2025) – Multi-Partner Project • 2025
Multi-Partner Project: Sustainable Textile Electronics (STELEC)
Bo Zhou (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Kaiserslautern, Germany; RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Kaiserslautern, Germany), Mengxi Liu (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Kaiserslautern, Germany), Sizhen Bian (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Kaiserslautern, Germany), Daniel Geißler (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Kaiserslautern, Germany), Paul Lukowicz (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Kaiserslautern, Germany; RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Kaiserslautern, Germany), Jose Miranda (EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland), Jonathan Dan (EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland), David Atienza (EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland), Mohamed Amine Riahi (RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Kaiserslautern, Germany), Nobert Wehn (RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Kaiserslautern, Germany), Russel Torah (University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom), Sheng Yong (University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom), Jidong Liu (University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom), Stephen Beeby (University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom), Magdalena Kohler (Berlin University of the Arts, Berlin, Germany), Berit Greinke (Berlin University of the Arts, Berlin, Germany), Junchun Yu (University of Boras, Borås, Sweden), Vincent Nierstrasz (University of Boras, Borås, Sweden), Leila Sheldrick (Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom), Rebecca Stewart (Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom), Tommaso Nieri (Next Technology Tecnotessile, Prato, Italy), Matteo Maccanti (Next Technology Tecnotessile, Prato, Italy), Daniele Spinelli (Next Technology Tecnotessile, Prato, Italy)
textile electronicssustainabilitymaterialsfabrication processeslife cycle analysis
Highlights
- Introduces STELEC, an EIC Pathfinder project to develop sustainable, recyclable e-textiles from materials to systems.
- Targets fiber-level integration of electronic elements to reduce reliance on rigid silicon components and enable computational textiles.
- Explores textile-native circuits, including digital logic and neuromorphic architectures such as SNN, LNN, and KAN.
- Emphasizes eco-friendly materials (e.g., biodegradable polymers, green nanomaterials) and low-impact fabrication (printing, plasma, embroidery).
- Embeds life cycle assessment and circularity into design, with tools and guidelines for sustainable e-textile development.
- Validates concepts via textile-integrated devices, sensors, and simple circuits under realistic wearability and durability conditions.
Abstract
E-textiles are rapidly emerging for applications in personalized health, elderly care, and smart agriculture, but their environmental impact and sustainability are problematic due to increased device volumes and the difficulty of recycling electronics embedded in textiles. STELEC (Sustainable Textile ELECtronics) is an interdisciplinary EIC Pathfinder project started in September 2024 that aims to develop next-generation textile-based electronics across sensing, processing, communication, power, and AI with full lifecycle sustainability. The project targets sustainable materials with advanced electrical properties, low-impact manufacturing such as printing and embroidery, textile-native devices and circuits, circular production and recycling processes, proof-of-concept validations in textiles, and life cycle sustainability models and decision support tools. It will build a complete e-textile technology stack from fiber to systems and prioritize repairability, recyclability, and biodegradable materials.
Citation
B. Zhou, M. Liu, S. Bian, D. Geißler, P. Lukowicz, J. Miranda, J. Dan, D. Atienza, M. A. Riahi, N. Wehn, R. Torah, S. Yong, J. Liu, S. Beeby, M. Kohler, B. Greinke, J. Yu, V. Nierstrasz, L. Sheldrick, R. Stewart, T. Nieri, M. Maccanti, and D. Spinelli, Multi-Partner Project: Sustainable Textile Electronics (STELEC), in Proceedings of the Design, Automation & Test in Europe Conference (DATE 2025), 2025.
