Are you interested in the call 2017? Please follow the link

deadline: 10th June 2016 at 2 p.m. (CET)

The Wearable Technologies Call is promoted by Venice Design Week, an event organized by the Cultural Association Voglia d’Arte, under the patronage of the Italian Association for Industrial Design (ADI). The call terms and conditions match the ICOGRADA, ICSID, IFI international standards.

Art.1 Call themes

This Venice Design Week call is aimed internationally at the creation of Wearable Technologies’. Selected projects will be exhibited and promoted during the 7th edition of the Venice Design Week, which will be held in Venice between 1st to 9th October 2016.

Admission themes:
a. Health and wellness: looking at both personal and medical perspectives
b. Social technology: Qualified Self, communication and connection (neighbourhood and networks)
c. Ambient technology: seeing the environment as a wearable in both public and domestic contexts
d. Accessory: supporting lifestyle, travel and sport
e. Augmented reality: using technology to enhance experiences

Art.2 Jury

The Jury for the Wearable Technologies Call is made of seven members; seven of them have the right to vote:

Rama Gheerawo, Director of The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art London United Kingdom
Medardo Chiapponi, Director of the Bachelor’s degree in Design and President of the Italian Society of Design, IUAV University of Venice Italy
Paolo Battistoni, Designer of the Technical Department of Tecnica Group
Chiara Squarcina, Director of the Palazzo Mocenigo Museum, Fondazione Musei Civici Veneziani
Carlo Asquini, Italian Angels for Growth
Laura Zandonella, Director of the Museo dell’Occhiale (Glasses Museum Belluno)
and a technical partner…
Coordinator, without the right to vote:
Lisa Balasso, representative of the Venice Design Week

The Jury’s decisions are made by majority. The Jury President will be selected from the Jury members.

Art.3 Call Fiduciary

The Call Fiduciary is the cultural association Voglia d’Arte that mediates between the call promoter, the Jury and the call participants.

The office for enquiries about the call’s participation terms and conditions:

Segreteria Venice Design Week
E-mail: wearabletech@venicedesignweek.it

Art.4 Awards and Selections

The call has two cash prizes and other awards. The prizes are organized as follows:

a) Professionals
1° Prize € 2000,-
2° Prize and 3° Prize Opportunity to enter the projects selection that IAG (Italian Angels for Growth) presents to their members for possible investments. IAG screening is addressed both to start up in early stages and to companies with products ready to be placed on the market. 

b) Students
1° Prize € 2000,-
2° Prize scholarship
3° Prize Opportunity to enter the projects selection that IAG (Italian Angels for Growth) presents to their members for possible investments. IAG screening is addressed both to start up in early stages and to companies with products ready to be placed on the market.

In the event that no qualified projects, winners and/or classification of merit are selected, the Jury can make the decision to share the total amount of the money awards within those projects that deserve a particular award.
Venice Design Week will distribute 50% of the money awards to those projects that deserve a particular reward; no legally recognized deductions will be applied on these money compensations.
The remaining 50% of the money will be invested in promoting the Venice Design Week activities.

Art. 5 Admission requirements

The call is open to:

a) Professionals (P)
Italian and/or non Italian creators like independent and/or employed designers, architects or engineers. Those professionals who are employees should submit an enterprise authorization.

b) Students (S)
Students of Design, Architecture and Engineering schools.

Team participations are allowed for both Professionals and Students. In case of team participation, the team nominates a leader and he/she will be in charge of keeping the relationship with the Venice Design Week organization.
Participation in the call is forbidden for Jury members, their family, for Venice Design Week promoters and for the professional studios of the Jury members.

Participation fees:
€ 60,- Professionals
€ 30,- Students

Art. 6 Judging criteria

Submission is open for published and unpublished projects. It is important that the submitted projects have a high growth potential, i.e. projects able to generate an entrepreneurial network.
In case of already published projects, the applicants have to mention the calls or awards they have been submitted to and relevant evaluations, if they are already on the market and/or when they are planned to enter the market.
In terms of legal issues about the projects originality, the jury may request the intervention of an expert appointed by the President of the Design Jury.

Art. 7 Projects requirements

Applicants have to send n. 2 tables format A2 (42x59cm) in high resolution .pdf (printing quality 300dpi). Drawings must be in a proportioned scale and show at least one technical overview and a detailed view.
Applicants are required to make a short description of the project, that describes project motivations, characteristics, materials and any other relevant information. The description must be submitted in A4 format (allowed formats: .doc and .pdf) and must not exceed one page content.
Applicants can illustrate their projects using other drawings and report them on the above mentioned tables or in the description; it is possible to indicate a link to a Youtube or Vimeo video of the object; videos must have a maximum length of 30 seconds.
On all tables and descriptions the applicants must report their motto (see art.8). Depending on their registration category, the applicants must report the marks P or S nearby the motto.

Art. 8 Identification and anonymity

The applicants must not sign their submitted documentary material; they are allowed to mark their materials with a motto or a code made of 6 non repeated numbers.
The designer or group of designers data must be reported on the relevant application form. The applicants must sign the call application form for acceptance of the call terms; the application form must be delivered inside a non transparent and authenticated enclosure on which the applicants will report their motto and the categories P or S, depending on their category of pertinence.
The call organization will take care of the documentary materials sent by mail and associate the mails with the names, the motto and the relevant category of pertinence.

Art. 9 Use of documentary material

All projects rights are reserved to those who submitted the applications. The applicants hereby agree that all materials (text and images) may be freely modified by Venice Design Week according to the communication needs of the various instruments used, and that Venice Design Week is free from any liability for any infringement of third party rights.
In case of awards involving IAG, the beneficiaries will directly disclose an agreement with the IAG organization.
The call organization is only in charge of the projects pre-selection phase.
The participants can protect their works through patent or registration in institutional “Projects Registers”.
If the applicants intend to register their projects, the ADI (Italian Design Association) organization gives them the opportunity to register their projects at favorable terms in the ADI “Projects Register”.

Art. 10 Submission terms

The registration for the competition can take place from the date of call publication. Link to application form.
All documentary materials sent via mail (via Jumbomail, Wetransfer, Dropbox)
starting from 10th May 2016 up to 10th June 2016 at 2 p.m. (CET) deadline
The call secretary will divide the projects in categories (P or S).

Art. 11 Information and publishing

Venice Design Week promotes the call and the winners and their projects to the press and through the most appropriate and available channels at its disposal.
Applicants hereby authorize Venice Design Week to publish their projects when selected. Applicants hereby authorize Venice Design Week to publish their projects in a catalogue and specialized media and agree that Venice Design Week only responsibility is to report their names. Applicants also agree that all materials (text and images) may be freely modified according to the communication needs of the various instruments used, and that Venice Design Week and Voglia d’Arte are free from any liability for any infringement of third party rights.
The applicants who have not won awards can decide to not publish their work. In this case they should communicate their decision to the call secretary not later than 5 days from the announcement of the final results.
The publication of the call results will occur within 90 days from call deadline. The winners will be informed via mail and phone by the call secretary.