Sports : Innovation for high performance athletes
How can athletes excel in a sporting challenge?
And why is innovation the answer?
As part of the “Sports: Innovation Accelerator” Commission, ALTEN and the French think tank Digiworld Summit have been working with several renowned partners on a joint study of science and innovation to improve athletes’ sporting performance. Scientific knowledge and engineering know-how now enable various players in the world of sports to innovate and optimise the quest for high sporting performance.
“Sports is not just physical competitions, it is a laboratory for innovation. At ALTEN, as engineering experts, we are familiar with performance and continuous improvement issues. With athletes as well as with major players in industry and services, we explore how technology can be a catalyst for high performance.”
said Steve Péguet, ALTEN Scientific Director, during the expert workshop held on 23 November.
Fluid mechanics, computer vision, 3D design, mechanics/biomechanics, AI/Data Science, development & algorithms… Engineering expertise is now increasingly essential for athletes and, by extension, all users of this research, to achieve high performance.
As part of the 2023 Digiworld Summit, ALTEN mentored two expert workshops: the first with EFREI, Zephir, CNRS and the French Cycling Federation on scientific and technological advances in athletic performance and their fields of application. The second with Hopscotch, Orange, and France Télévisions on the impact of sport as an aggregator of innovations for a 5.0 experience.
Sports as a catalyst for innovation
Know-how in the field of sports is now being applied to other activities. Thanks to a common approach, parallels can now be drawn to improve efficiency and high performance in industry and business:
- Optimising individual or team racing strategies in cycling using digital twin technology now makes it possible to optimise the flow of transport, people or goods for cities, the supply chain, or factories
- Workstation ergonomics can be secured to assist the operator in the factory to ensure his well-being at work, while guaranteeing his productivity
- The aerodynamic optimisation of a bicycle can also be applied to a truck to reduce fuel consumption and its carbon footprint
Challenges beyond sports
At the conclusion of the Digiworld Institute’s Sport and Digital Commission, the discussions highlighted the fact that beyond the sporting challenge, there are broader challenges to be met. Health, eco-responsibility, smart cities, media & telecoms… It is important to federate a broad ecosystem and provide it with the necessary resources to realise the ambitions set out with the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“What we have achieved here goes far beyond technological innovation. We have laid the foundations for a new era in sport, where technology and performance converge to advance society as a whole.”
insisted Gualtiero Bazzana, Executive Director of ALTEN, at the Digiworld Summit held on December 1st in Paris.
Discover our Sports Science projects
