ThinkSport today announced a line-up of additional speakers, including Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, and the detailed conference programme for its new pioneering event The SPOT, scheduled to take place from 15 to 16 May 2018 at the SwissTech Convention Center in Lausanne.
The goal of The SPOT is to unite the creative imaginations and expertise of sport, established businesses, start-ups, investors, academia and the media. The event will showcase and promote innovative ideas, products, companies, and best practices by leveraging the unique concentration of sport related knowledge in the region as well as key international innovation spotters.
Conference Programme to feature hot topics
The conference, which is one part of the event, will feature an exciting mix of presentations and engaging interactive sessions. Discussions will focus on four themes:
• Connecting the World
• Information is Power
• Future Athletes
• Future Sport
Topics will include everything from smart venues, connected sports equipment, and machine learning in sport, to cyber technology, digital security, bionics and nutrigenomics, and future trends in eSports.
Top speakers from a variety of sectors
Dr Andrew Walshe, High Performance Consultant at Logitech, will deliver the opening keynote address and explain how data and deep insights into behaviour can be used to shape innovation in sport.
Yunus, a Noble Peace Prize winner from Bangladesh, will kick off the second day of The SPOT with a discussion on the conjunction of social entrepreneurship and sport. Yunus received the prestigious award in 2006 for establishing the Grameen Bank and his work helping disadvantaged people escape from poverty.
Other participants, who recently confirmed their involvement in The SPOT, include:
• Daniel Marion, ICT Director at UEFA
• Joey Tan, Head of Cloud BD and Olympic Sports Initiatives at Alibaba
• Jochen Färber, Head of Olympic Channel Services
• Stéphane Guerry, President of Havas Sports & Entertainment
• Johan Vounckx, Senior VP of Innovation & Technology at EVS Broadcast Equipment
• Laurent Mekies, Safety Director at FIA
• Ali Russell, Director of Media and new Business for Formula E
• Carlo de Marchis, Chief Product & Marketing Officer at Deltatre
• An Dang Duy, Chief Information Officer Information Technology at IAAF
These experts join an already robust list of speakers confirmed for the event.
“We are thankful for the strong interest being shown in The SPOT by a good number of brilliant speakers and thinkers,” said ThinkSport Director Anna Hellman. “Our line-up shows just how well received the idea behind The SPOT is, and with their involvement we aim to make this a do-not-miss event on the calendar for years to come.”
A large number of registrations from a variety of sectors have already been received for The SPOT. In addition, the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) will hold a meeting of its Technology & Innovation Consultative Group (TICG) alongside The SPOT.
The SPOT – anything but conventional
Alongside the conference programme, participants in The SPOT will also be able to experience:
• a Marketplace and Demo Zone, where participants will present and discover innovative products and solutions;
• numerous networking opportunities allowing new cross-sector partnerships and projects to come into being; and
• an international start-up competition to promote and reward new business ideas.
Start-ups dedicated to sport are encouraged to take advantage of one of the few special event packages still available exclusively for them. These packages offer delegate passes, a booth at the Marketplace and the Demo Zone, and access to an invitation-only networking event at Gotham – Lausanne’s biggest co-working space, which is renowned for attracting creative minds. Find out more here.
Check out www.thespot2018.org.