NEWS

Technology, Big Data and analytics and its impact on the transformation of sport were the protagonists of the 8th edition of the Master's Degree in Sports Management and Management of the UPF Barcelona School of Management, organized by the same Master, with the collaboration of INDESCAT.

The conference, which was entitled 'Technology, Big Data and analytics: the transformation of sport', included several lectures and round tables with leading experts specialized in technology and sports.

To the welcome, the dean of the UPF Barcelona School of Management, Oriol Amat emphasized that the sports sector is one of the most relevant in the Catalan economy and represents 2% of PIB.

The first presentation and subsequent debate, moderated by the director of the Master in Management and Sports Management, Carles Murillo, had as main protagonist the company N3xt Sports, member of INDESCAT. Mounir Zok, director of the company, started the conversation by getting the public standing up to make the attendees take their own beats through a website that can be accessed from the mobile.

During the presentation, Zok explained the evolution of technology in high performance sports and emphasized the fact that it has been possible to improve the professional life of athletes, but that there is still room for improvement in certain aspects of the private life of many of them. As an example of a key factor, he explained that "the quality of sleep is of vital importance for the practice of sports. Measuring each morning 'the gasoline' of an athlete is essential to improving their performance. "

Next, the CEO of Al Kamel Systems, José Luis García, focused his intervention on the applications of augmented reality and the exploitation of data in sports. He highlighted the MYLAPS technology, very useful to measure, publish and analyze the results of competitions and the training of runners and athletes. He also explained the operation of the current timing system in Formula E, which applies augmented reality to get the most detail in the graphics of television.

Marc Bigas, founder of Skitude, and Ivan Llonch, co-founder of Patadon, were in charge, along with the moderator and cluster manager of INDESCAT, Alex Rivera, to present practical cases of the application of technology in sport by start-ups. sports ups. Skitude is a member of INDESCAT and Patadon is a participant in the entrepreneurship program INDESUP!

In the presentation that Ivan Llonch did, he put as an example the technology in the world of golf, destined to improve the experience of the manufacturer, the retailer and the client.

Patadon, which is committed to promoting ecommerce, has invested and developed the necessary technology to optimize the management of resources, logistics and the analysis of its business and customers, thus professionalizing the point of sale.

It has achieved objectives such as bringing the brand closer to the final consumer; convert all points of sale into logistics distribution points, with a collaborative stock model; move their model to other sports and open the company to the international market.

On the other hand, the founder of Skitude, Marc Bigas, explained that the main objective of the start-up is to improve the skiers' experience. This is done through an application that makes a large amount of data available to users. They currently have more than one million users connected to the app and work in 900 ski resorts in 40 different countries.

Skitude, in addition, manages to add value to the stations thanks to the engagement generated by the users and also from the data provided by the same skiers who register to the app, who provide relevant information for the improvement of station services.

In the afternoon, Pedro A. de Alarcón, Head of Big Data for Social Good & Sports Analytics of LUCA (Telefónica Data Unit), highlighted the importance of data analysis in sport, using the case of Movistar Team and La Vuelta.

He listed the tools used in each context and explained that "technology and sportscience are the two elements that improve the sport." "The future of cycling is in prediction and intelligence," he concluded.

To end the day, Marc Subirà, responsible for Data at FCBarcelona, dedicated his speech to explain the implementation of new technologies to the club to improve the performance of the players. They do it with spaces such as the smart gym, or with elements such as panoramic video.

With the new technologies and through all the parameters and data that are extracted, they want to "turn objective what was previously subjective". According Subirà, to make objective data reach coaches who previously did not have or saw any data, you have to make them as attractive and close as possible. "They do not want a mountain of data, but watch videos indefinitely. And even better if a video analyst edits them and adapts them so that the coaches retain what is really important and interesting to analyze ".