Innovation in the sports industry is constantly evolving. Activity driven by digital advancements, high-level of social media interactions, broad appeal for immersive sports experience, and fan engagement, as well as the growing importance of technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, blockchain, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, cloud, data analytics, wearable tech, and many more. In the last three years alone, there have been over 76,000 patents filed and granted in the sports industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Internet of Things in Sports: Outdoor sporting navigation systems. Buy the report here.

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According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which uses over 49,000 patents to analyze innovation intensity for the sport industry, there are 10+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.

Outdoor sporting navigation systems is a key innovation area in sports

A satellite navigation device (satnav device) is a user equipment that uses one or more global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) to calculate the device’s geographical position and provide navigational advice. Depending on the software used, the satnav device may display the position on a map, as geographic coordinates, or may offer routing directions. Satellite navigation has played an increasingly important role in tracking professional sport performance. Positional data of players and athletes is extensively used in sports performance analysis for designing fitness programmes for specific game sports, positional roles, evaluations of physiological responses, analysis of tactical behaviour and in many other sport analytics domains.

GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 50+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established sports companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of outdoor sporting navigation systems.

Key players in outdoor sporting navigation systems – a disruptive innovation in the sports industry

‘Application diversity’ measures the number of applications identified for each patent. It broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.

‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of countries each patent is registered in. It reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.

Patent volumes related to outdoor sporting navigation systems

Adidas is the leading patent filer in outdoor sporting navigation systems. Some other key patent filers in the outdoor sporting navigation systems industry include Nike, Skyhawke Technologies, Topgolf Callaway Brands, and Casio Computer.

In terms of application diversity, Spotify Technology leads the pack. Beijing Electronics and AlpineReplay stand in second and third positions, respectively. By means of geographic reach, adidas holds the top position, followed by Nike and Intel.

To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the sports industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Sports.

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GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.

GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.

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