Covering Disruptive Technology Powering Business in The Digital Age

Sports are not only an essential aspect of public health, they also represent a huge industry. As technology has become indispensable in our daily lives and has been applied to professional athletic training, daily fitness and leisure and even education, SportsTech’s market potential is huge. The global SportsTech market size was estimated at USD $16.17 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 17.8% to reach USD $36.81 billion by 2027.

Cyberport‘s community startups have developed a variety of SportsTech solutions, ranging from training designed to enhance professional athletes’ skills and physical conditioning to fitness and leisure for the general public. Some top athletes also use their knowledge and experience to develop solutions that promote the popularisation of sports.

“Sports require fitness, stamina, skills and teamwork. With the help of advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Virtual Reality and Internet of Things, professional athletes’ peak performance will be further enhanced and sports professionalisation will grow,” said Eric Chan, Chief Public Mission Officer at Cyberport. “On the other hand, SportsTech can help create a sports-for-all atmosphere as it enables the public to more easily enjoy exercise. Cyberport startups provide SportsTech solutions that satisfy diverse customer needs, and quite a few startups offer technologies that can be further developed into SportsTech. With the government’s strong support for local sports development and promotion of sports industrialisation, coupled with the support of sports technology research funds, we believe significant business opportunities will be opened up for I&T enterprises.”

Big Data + Research Can Boost Athletic Performance

Big data analysis is the key to effectively improving athletes’ performance and increasing their odds in competitions. Athleta Pro, one of Cyberport’s startups, has collaborated with a local university to develop an athlete management system. By collecting and analysing data about football players’ performance, such as the time it takes them to complete a particular training objective, coaches are able to comprehensively monitor their players’ physical and technical performance. They can identify athletes’ strengths and weaknesses and develop personalised training and competition strategies. The system can also be tweaked to meet the training needs of various sports.

A Champs, another startup rooted in Cyberport, has developed an interactive sports device. With the help of the application, football coaches can select a training mode designed by the startup’s professional team, within which coloured lights and sounds remind players to dribble a football and train their reaction and speed. The device will record players’ response data and, through big data analysis, the coach can design more precise drills based on each athlete’s performance.

Exercise Videos Allow Users to Practice Anytime

During the pandemic, people turned to exercising at home. SportsTech can make home exercise more appealing. Pakhung Cheung, the world jump rope individual champion, has developed a rope skipping application called ROJU. It offers more than 200 videos with different levels of difficulty according to world competition standards, allowing users to practice at any time according to their goals. The system is going to launch a rope skipping recognition function, and users can upload their skipping for the ROJU professional team’s evaluation. Users will discover whether their movements meet world standards and will be motivated to practice.

Smart Devices Create New Virtual Sports Experiences

New smart devices allow users to enjoy a wide range of sports without geographical restrictions. Asia Motion E-Sports utilises Augmented/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) technology to bring users an immersive experience of virtual sports such as skiing, horseracing and canoeing. Users can experience these sports in a safe environment through smart devices, while saving travelling time. The start-up also incorporates elements of competition in order to increase the excitement.

Another Cyberport startup, Master Snooker Kingdom, was founded by the world’s top British snooker player, Marco Fu. The startup provides young players with quality snooker training as well as STEM knowledge: They can both learn British snooker skills and understand the physics behind them. Projectors and motion sensors can be added to project the best hitting position on the billiard table, which will help analyse students’ performance and further equip them to become “masters of snooker.”

Platforms Connect Sports Lovers Worldwide to Share the Joy of Competition

Sports can gather a group of enthusiasts to share the joy of exercising together. The startup Joint Concept Dynamic has set up an online running platform, Run2gather. Runners can enjoy competing with other runners, regardless of time zone and region, by simply uploading their records through the platform or application. The platform also holds special themed events from time to time, which aim to attract more people to join the sport’s community.

(0)(0)