Description of Challenge:

In the last decades sports have been gaining ground within the social and economic scope with the development of sport marketing, exploration of sports as entertainment, strengthening and occurrence of sports-related mega-events as well as use of sports as a social development tool and promotion of health, well-being and educational process. The growth of sports have made possible the rising of a specialized industry that explores from the creation of infrastructure for sports practices and new materials for sports equipment to services sector such as gyms, marketplaces of personal trainers and social media for sports practice. The innovation opportunities in the industry are immense and with the revolution of innovative cities, new materials and mobile technologies the grounds for materialization of startups in the sector are quite fertile.

Opportunities for Startups:

• » Solutions for formation of youngsters through sports by reducing their involvement with crime;
• » Creation of conditions for practice of physical activities for Economy;
• » New forms of exploration of sports marketing implemented by digital marketing;
• » New technologies and materials oriented towards the improvement of efficiency in sports practices;
• » New training methods for high performance athletes, maintenance of health and recreational;
• » Mega events;
• » Sports and physical activities as a promotion of culture, tourism, inclusion of elderly citizens, people with special needs and promotion of health and well-being;
• » Solutions oriented to paralympic sports: new technologies in equipment and innovative training alternatives;
• » Sports infrastructure and utilization of public spaces and practices;
• » Formation of communities and social media for practice of recreational sports;
• » Social inclusion and development programs from sports;
• » IoT-based solutions that may be used for follow-up and optimization of (professional or amateur) athlete performance.