We are delighted to announce that Matthew Drinkwater, Head of the Fashion Innovation Agency at London College of Fashion, who will be delivering the opening keynote address at our national conference in November.  

Matthew’s work brings together diverse industries to create a vision of the future incorporating wearable technologies, AR, VR, Robotics, IoT, AI, Materials Technology (Smart Materials), and a host of cutting-edge developments. His keynote Exploring the creative impact of technology at the intersection of fashion, retail, and priority industry growth sectors will explore how these technologies are being applied across sectors today, as well as looking ahead to what could be possible in the future. 

Matthew will explore the cross-industry applications and lessons that emerge when traditional sectors embrace innovation and disruption, including the role of effective collaboration and partnership working. From wearable technology in fashion to personalised healthcare, the session will consider what other sectors — including banking, automotive and engineering — can learn from these developments. 

For a higher education audience, it offers an opportunity to reimagine interoperability between sectors and show how technological advances cause disruption that increases innovation, productivity and sustainable positive impact and growth.  

It promises to be an engaging and thought-provoking start to the conference, with plenty to take away about the future of technology, collaboration and skills. 

To close the conference, we’ll hear from Peter Hill, Director of Woven Fabrics at Heathcoat Fabrics, whose keynote, Inspiring technical excellence: parachute your learning! will bring an industry perspective on innovation, technical excellence and the skills driving advanced manufacturing. 

Based in Tiverton, Heathcoat Fabrics has been innovating for more than 200 years, producing specialist fabrics for flight suits, PPE, parachutes and much more. Peter will share an insight into the innovation taking place at the company today, including his work on technical fabrics for renewable energy, defence and aerospace, and the parachute fabric Heathcoat designed for NASA’s Perseverance Rover mission to Mars. He will also explore the technical expertise and skills behind this success, as well as the introduction of new technologies, including the first cobot used in the UK textile industry, and the importance of collaboration, inclusion and developing the next generation of technical talent. 

It’s a great opportunity to hear directly from industry about what technical excellence looks like in practice, how specialist skills are developed and sustained, and what education and skills providers can learn from employers operating at the cutting edge of manufacturing. 

Register today to join us on Thursday 19 November at MTC Coventry for UVAC’s National Conference 2026: Reimagining HE and Skills: Policy, Place, Innovation and Growth.