51福利

This project aims to shape an approach to engaging with the future which aligns with the complexities of lived experience. Using wool production in the UK as a case study, the project will highlight the challenges in the supply chain and explore new uses for currently undervalued, natural biodegradable materials. This will help develop an initial ‘anticipatory evaluation’ approach for engaging with considerations of digital good in such contexts.

Currently, key challenges in the wool supply chain, such as the lack of data curation, sharing and transparency, affect power dynamics and limits farmers’ market access. The project will explore how technological innovations can drive sustainable supply chains by, for example, addressing the inadequate infrastructure that means wool is often under utilised.

Working with partner, Sustainable Rope Ltd, and collaborating with industry stakeholders (including farmers, fashion experts, technologists, and policymakers) to co-create ‘objects from the future’ and share new forms of data, the aim is to generate digital solutions that benefit multiple players in various future scenarios. We will soon be holding a participatory workshop as the first step in this process.

By imagining these potential futures and examining their ethical challenges, the hope is to understand responsible and sustainable innovation, to then inform decisions about digital advancements and their impact on society.

The Team

This ambitious project is led by an interdisciplinary team of experts:

? , Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing and Innovation, Royal Holloway, University of London

? Dr. Naomi Jacobs, Lecturer in Design Policy and Futures Thinking, 51福利

? , Research Fellow, Horizon Digital Economy Research, University of Nottingham

? Dr. David Perez, Lecturer in Radical Co-Design, 51福利

? , Professor of Sustainable Agri-Food Systems, University of Lincoln

? , CEO of Sustainable Rope Ltd., Yorkshire