UTS @ SXSW Sydney 2023: Top 3 highlights

In its inaugural year, UTS was proud to be the Education Partner of SXSW Sydney 2023. From October 15 to 22, our campus and the surrounding precinct buzzed with excitement, hosting an exciting array of talks, pop-up events, and activations, contributing to the dynamic festivities spanning from Darling Harbour to Chippendale. Our campus served as a lively hub, bringing the spirit of SXSW Sydney to life throughout the week.

Here are our top three highlights from UTS @ SXSW Sydney 2023.

1. UTS House

Situated in the UTS Business School, at the core of Tech Central, UTS House played a central role in the excitement of SXSW Sydney. With a focus on emerging technology and cutting-edge ideas, UTS hosted academic experts and Industry trailblazers across tech and innovation, health and science, business and law, in a series of thought-provoking conversations, exploring topics such as:

• Ageing with Dignity: imagining the future of aged care services in Australia? 
• Embracing the power of AI in Enterprise: Bridging academia & industry for a transformative tomorrow 
• Business and Human Rights 
• Sticky, smelly, moist: The future of new materials

Check out what happened at UTS House during the week.

This dynamic space provided an opportunity for key partners to connect, all within the vibrant landscape of one of Australia's leading innovation districts.

Thank you to our precinct partner, Central Place Sydney for hosting daily coffees on the House! 

2. UTS on the Main Stage

UTS took centre stage with six thought-provoking sessions at SXSW Sydney's conference track. These sessions featured some of our most inspiring thinkers and creators who explored the considerations of embracing new tech and design and the complex considerations that shape Australia's cultural landscape. 

UTS curated panel sessions @ SXSW Sydney included:

• It’s 2050 and the robots are among us
• Screw Silicon: Welcome to the global south
• The next 60,000 years of design
• Walking in two worlds: the space between cultures
• The myth of the single user
• Juggling family and work/life balance in the music industry

3. UTS Student Activation

Adding an extra layer of excitement to the festival experience, we showcased across campus the breadth of innovation and creativity brewing within the UTS student community, with a range of vibrant student works and activations, including: 

Superwood: Computational design, robotic fabrication for decarbonisation

Through a successful collaboration between UTS architecture and engineering students, four 1:1 built demonstrations were created, showcasing how computational design and robotic fabrication can create the production of new material systems that create climate-positive outcomes and memorable places, objects and experiences. 

The Future of Fashion: Creativity meets technology

Future Fashion: Creativity meets technology, brought together the experimental work of UTS Fashion and Textiles Design Honours students of 2023, in an exhibition of selected looks from each of their collections. 

Re-fines Ceramic Sculptures

The work on display showcased the diversity and application of Re-Fines, a 100% circular ceramic material made from recycled glass fines. Re-Fines offers application opportunities for industries manufacturing products from ceramics and is part of the research cluster of Material Ecologies.