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ACCELERATE “CONNECTING SPORT AND INNOVATION” A REAL SUCCESS

ACCELERATE “CONNECTING SPORT AND INNOVATION” A REAL SUCCESS

The ACCELERATE Workshop concluded last week at the Swiss Tech Convention Centre, Lausanne, after two very interesting days of meetings and discussions between various international sports organisations (ISOs), the International Olympic Committee (IOC), various media experts and promising technology start-ups. 

ACCELERATE, organised by AISTS, Innovaud and CVCI, was executed for the first time in 2015 as an exclusive innovation and sports workshop with the goal to address the specific needs in sport.  The second edition of ACCELERATE was organised in collaboration with WAN-IFRA, EPFL+ECAL Lab and Stockholm School of Economics and focused on addressing the need for enhancing public engagement in and through sports. To understand the said needs, AISTS published a study after interviewing more than 30 ISOs and media experts. The questions touched upon aspects of specific ISO needs, technological inovations that could act as enablers for these needs, and how the media agencies could adapt to integrate the aforementioned and better engage the public. The study was distributed to the attendees of the event one week prior as a precursor to the workshop discussions.

The workshop kicked-off on the evening of 1st February with a welcome addressed by Canton of Vaud, and City of Lausanne, Innovaud and AISTS. The welcome was followed by a panel discussion with experts and a cocktail dinner. Day 2 saw an early start with a welcome coffee, followed by the presentation of the study conducted by the AISTS. This was followed by 3 keynote speeches addressed by Steinar Bjørlykke (NRK Mid-Norway), Robert Overweg (Triple/Beyond Sports) and Nicolas Henchoz (EPFL+ECAL Lab). The first half of the morning was concluded with a short session which established the needs of International Federations (IFs).

The second part of the morning was dedicated to parallel workshops with start-ups. The 3 sessions were on the topics of Wearable Technology, Content Creation and Enhancing Fan Experience. These sessions were designed to provide a platform for open exchange of ideas and opinions between the ISOs and various start-ups working in the respective field of the topics. The start-ups included names like GaitUp (motion analysis), Finity (media intelligence) and VOGO (mobile technology) amongst other.

Marta Klincewicz, Head of Sport Technology Intelligence at AISTS and event organiser said,

“It was great to bring all the key actors together and to discuss the key challenges and needs in the area of public engagement and media in sports. It was a unique opportunity for the international sport organisations, start-ups and media to connect and exchange with a common objective in mind – improving experiences offered to spectators of sporting events. We look forward to the interesting new collaborations and projects resulting from this workshop.”

A post event report will be distributed to all participants with all key findings and results from the workshop in the next coming weeks.  For more information go to http://accelerate.events or contact Marta Klincewicz marta.klincewicz@aists.org