The ZMI Podcasts

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Zvi Meitar Institute examines the legal, social and ethical challenges associated with new and emerging technologies with the goal to promote innovation.
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Language: en

Genres: Philosophy, Science, Society & Culture

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Smart Textiles - Far Beyond Wearables
Monday, 17 November, 2025

What are smart textiles? Fabrics are learning to sense, react, and connect—turning garments into living interfaces. From hospital gowns that track vitals to military uniforms that help prevent heat stress and sportswear that coaches in real time, smart textiles are poised to transform healthcare, defense, industry, and everyday fashion. We also dive into active textiles—materials that adapt in real time to the wearer’s body by modulating temperature and compression, changing color or stiffness, delivering haptic cues, or powering micro-actuation. But as cloth becomes code, new questions emerge: Who owns data gathered at skin level? How do we keep these systems safe and reliable? And what are the legal, ethical, and social trade-offs when our clothes start to compute? Our guest is Ori Topaz — managing director and researcher at CIRTex (the Israeli Center for Innovation and Research in Textiles, focused on advanced textile innovation) and senior lecturer at Shenkar’s design faculty. Special guest: Ori Topaz Hosts: Michal Bar Gil & Noam Ben Zimra Research partner: Noam Meshulam Executive Producer: Ayelet Triest Editor: Ben Shani Professional guidance: Mrs. Inbar Carmel and Professor Dov Greenbaum.