The organizing committee of the upcoming 2026 Commonwealth Games has continued to bolster its commercial slate, adding UK-based software company Ideagen as the event’s official AI technology principal partner as part of a wide-ranging agreement.
Under the deal, Ideagen will also serve as the presenting partner for netball during the event, as well as an official partner for Team Scotland, with the brand gaining a presence across all four competition venues, including the Scottish Event Campus, Tollcross Swimming Centre, Scotstoun Stadium, and The Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.
The games will run from July 22 to August 2 in Glasgow and feature 10 different sports, as well as para-iterations of six of the sports, staged across the four venues.
As part of its role as presenting partner for netball, Ideagen will have brand visibility across the netball programme and will also provide sporting equipment for schools.
The new deal comes as organizers continue their spate of commercial activity, most recently adding craft beer brand Jubel as the event’s official beer partner, and Coca-Cola as official soft drinks partner and official partner of Team Scotland.
Other recent agreements secured for Glasgow 2026 include Corporate and Sporting Events, the UK-based logistics solutions provider, and Chinese electric vehicle company BYD, which signed on as its official car partner.
Glasgow is due to host the event for the second time, having previously done so in 2014.
The 2026 Commonwealth Games was originally set to be hosted by the Australian state of Victoria, but the region's government withdrew in July 2023 owing to a huge increase in the projected cost of staging the games - originally projected to hit A$2.6 billion ($1.7 billion), the cost then rose to an untenable A$6 billion.
Malaysia was briefly considered as a replacement before Glasgow stepped in.
In its withdrawal, Victoria had to pay A$380 million to the CGF as compensation, £100 million ($129 million) of which CGS has budgeted to use for the financing of its Commonwealth Games proposal, with the remaining £30-£50 million to be drawn from ticketing, sponsorship, and broadcast revenue.
Last October, the Indian city of Ahmedabad was announced as the replacement host for the 2030 Commonwealth Games after Alberta, Canada, also pulled out in mid-2023.
While Glasgow will host a scaled-down version of the games, with only a 10-sport program, Indian officials have already stated they will organize a full slate of events and use the games as a stepping stone to bid for the 2036 Olympic Games.
