The Sport Tech District has been defined as a “conceptual space ” by La Gazzetta dello Sport. A place where startups, innovative projects, and institutional/territorial ideas were exhibited and promoted. A place conceptualized by Trentino Sviluppo (territorial development agency of the Autonomous Province of Trento), an area and an arena inside Il Festival dello Sport dedicated to technology applied to sport and the relationship between sport, innovation, and business.
Sports leaders debated about innovation and technology. In particular, Sport Tech and Sports Startups were the focus of a public meeting dedicated to European accelerator network with key institutional and corporate players like GSIC/Global Sports Innovation Centre – powered by Microsoft, Tenkan-Ten by ASICS, SportsTechX, Scuola dello Sport, Trentino Sviluppo, ThinkSport and CONI. Sport has been identified as a huge field of play with a market of approximately 1.500 startups and more than 360 million invested in 2018. A general consensus emerged in terms of evaluation of future opportunities, in particular in terms of “Activity & Performance” (i.e. wearables & equipment; performance tracking & coaching; preparation) and – relatively less, but still conspicuously – in terms of “Fan & Content” and “Management & Organisation”. So the numerical and parsimonious description by Benjamin Penkert from SportsTechX, who also launched the very important project of a database like https://sportstechdb.com/
Paolo Pretti from Trentino Sviluppo elaborated on the territorial vocation of Trentino: on the one hand, the highest intensity of startups in Italy and, on the other hand, the strong sports tradition, has led to the launch of Spin Accelerator Italy, an accelerator vertically focused on sports start-ups.
A very interesting case study has been illustrated by GSIC/Global Sports Innovation Centre powered by Microsoft and Iris Cordoba. A strategic eco-systemic investment by Microsoft, the Madrid-based platform has partnered with MediaPro, La Liga, Atos et al. in order to bridge the gap between large companies and startups.
Daniel Dümig from the acceleration programma Tenkan-Ten by ASICS (“Anima Sana in Corpore Sano”) linked the dimension of well-being with startups as Tenkan-Ten describes itself as “the sport & well-being growth catalyst by ASICS”.
Rossana Ciuffetti from the School of Sport described the special focus on innovation by the School and the collaboration with the Trentino Eco-System of Sport and Innovation, which will magnify on November 22nd with a workshop on “Sport & Innovation” in Rome.
The model of innovation for the Sports Ecosystem in Italy was discussed as a special case – mostly as the “Sports Tech District” was inaugurated by Alessandra Sensini (Vice-President of CONI – Italian Olympic Committee).
The University of Trento presented the project of the Alaska expedition. Luigi de Siervo (CEO, Lega Serie A) and Roberto Scrivo (Sky) sent an alarming warning against digital piracy. Formula E was represented by Felipe Massa and the key guardians of the eco-system.
The champions of FISI (International Winter Sports’ Federation), from Sofia Goggia to Christof Innerhofer, participated actively in the presentation of AUDI, main sponsor of the Festival of Sport and of FISI.
Futuristic reflections on the use of new materials, philosophical reflection on robots (and sport) and a dialogue with an astronaut animated the days at the Sports Tech District, which culminated in the roadshow of Vespa.
Following the links to the innovative projects and the institutional/territorial stakeholders present at the Festival dello Sport di Trento together with Trentino Sviluppo and the key Italian stakeholders.
Start-ups & innovative projects
Institutions & territorial projects
Scuola dello sport – Sport e Salute
This is the fourth article by Trentino Sviluppo – Area Marketing Strategico (progetto Cluster Sport) to explore how the world of the sports industry is evolving and innovating thru technology and new business models.
