AI in Sport

David Atienza Alonso is the Associate Vice-President of Research Center and Platforms at EPFL, a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and director of the Embedded Systems Laboratory (ESL) at EPFL, Switzerland. He received his MSc and Ph.D. degrees in computer science and engineering from UCM, Spain, and IMEC, Belgium, in 2001 and 2005, respectively. His research interests include the design of smart edge AI devices and low-power Internet-of-Thing (IoT) systems, as well as novel sustainable computing architectures for cloud computing and data centers design. He has worked extensively in edge AI architectures for wireless body sensor nodes and smart embedded systems, and HW/SW reconfigurable systems for AI and Machine Learning systems, with key companies worldwide (IBM, Microsoft, Meta, Apple, Huawei, TI, Oracle, HP, Intel, etc.).

Jacques de Werra is professor of contract law and of intellectual property and Director of the Digital Law Center at the Law School of the University of Geneva, Switzerland. He holds a doctoral degree in law from the University of Lausanne, obtained an LL.M. degree from Columbia Law School in New York City (2001) and passed the New York bar (2002). He practiced IP and corporate law in a leading Swiss business law firm (and also worked in law firms in Brussels and New York). Jacques de Werra has been appointed as visiting professor at various leading universities (Harvard Law School as visiting professor for a course on International IP transactions (2024 and 2022), Stanford Law School (2023), Paris 2 – Panthéon Assas, Catholic University of Louvain, City University of Hong Kong, Nagoya University). Jacques de Werra teaches, researches, publishes and consults on various aspects of intellectual property law, contract law, particularly on the commercialisation of intellectual property assets with the use of transfer of technology, licensing and franchising, IT and Internet and digital law and sports law. He is frequently involved as arbitrator or expert in alternative dispute resolution mechanisms (specifically arbitration) for IP / technology and other business disputes.

Valerio Rossetti started his career working for 7 years as a particle-physics researcher at CERN. There, he used state-of-the-art techniques to extract information from data, especially to search for traces of dark matter in particle collisions. Since 2016, he has worked in consulting, applying data science in several industries. First, he joined the Quant team of Ernst & Young in Geneva. Later, he created his own company, SamurAI Sàrl, providing consulting services for his clients. He also has a passion for teaching very complex subjects in simple terms. That is why he particularly enjoys offering training programs to private companies and universities. Valerio joined the Swiss Data Science Center (SDSC) in May 2022 as a Principal Data Scientist with the mission of accompanying industrial partners and other institutions through their data science journey.

Pete Pastides is a dedicated professional excelling in triathlon and technology innovation. As a GBR Age Group Triathlete (55-59), Pete competes at world-level events, including Ironman 70.3 races, constantly pushing his limits. In his professional career, he has driven innovation and brand engagement through his expertise in technology design and revenue growth. Pete’s ability to blend athletic discipline with business acumen fuels his commitment to excellence, both in sports and in creating value for sports organisations and brands through impactful technology solutions.

Jean Sebastien joined Dartfish in 2015 and was appointed CEO in June 2017 after serving over 2 years as Head of Product & CTO. Jean Sebastien helped to build the foundational elements of the organization including program design, partnership engagement, geographic expansion and the on-line and social enterprise strategy. Jean Sebastien leads Dartfish’s efforts on sustainable and quantifiable impact, operational excellence and growth. Prior to joining Dartfish, Jean Sebastien had a 15-year career in Telecom and IT industry in different positions. Jean Sebastien has a Master of Science in Marketing from HEC Paris.

Maximilian is the strategic lead at Combat IQ, where he began as the company’s first Computer Vision Engineer. Since the company’s inception in 2021, he has played a key role in both technical development and shaping the company’s strategic direction, driving the growth of Combat IQ’s AI-powered sports analytics solutions. Prior to joining Combat IQ, Maximilian worked at AFRY and DWW, gaining valuable experience in engineering and technology development. He holds both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from ETH Zurich and is currently pursuing the MTEC Management degree there as well. In addition to his work on technical products that help athletes and coaches optimize performance through data, Maximilian is focused on crafting strategic plans for Combat IQ’s expansion into new markets. As a former international-level sports karate competitor, he brings a deep understanding of athletic performance to his work.

Martin Rajman is the Ambassador to digitalswitzerland and Senior Reseacher at EPFL. Martin Rajman was Director of the EPFL Global Computing Center (CGC), an association of research groups and laboratories of the School of Computer and Communication Sciences fostering interdisciplinary research in the general area of internet computing and distributed information systems. In this position, he was managing more than 20 European projects. In parallel with his research management activities, Martin Rajman is senior researcher at EPFL. His research interests include Artificial Intelligence, Computational Linguistics and Data-driven Probabilistic Machine Learning. Martin Rajman is author or co-author of more than 100 publications and former Director of the Computer Science Series of EPFL-Press (PPUR).

Richard Zhang is an AISTS MAS alumnus and serves as the Olympic Solutions Architect at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group. Prior to this role, he was the Director of Athlete Development at Wanda Sports, where he established the IRONMAN coaching framework, developed communication policies for over 120 triathlon clubs, and successfully delivered the first five IRONMAN competitions in the Chinese market. Richard then joined Alibaba Cloud Global, where he worked successively as a Sport Innovation Solution Architect and Olympic Project Consultant. Since September 2024, he has been the Olympic Solutions Architect at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group. Among his many notable achievements, Richard established and led the architect team to deliver the first-ever innovation projects for the Olympics and Asian Games, enabled business development in global markets by leading the Broadcasting & Media Industry Solutions practice, and delivered innovative solutions for future Olympic Games.