About us

ThinkSport is a non-profit association that brings together different sectors and stakeholders involved with sport and physical activity – across Switzerland and internationally. This B2B sport and innovation network aims to drive progress in sport by facilitating creative thinking, new partnerships, innovative projects and knowledge sharing.

The Lausanne based universities EPFL and UNIL are both very active in the fields of sport and physical activity. Over 40 EPFL labs have gotten involved in sports-related research, connecting technology to sport beyond performance. EPFL’s main focus is on the five pillars of quantified self, next-generation equipment, motion and position measurement, data analysis and spectator experience.

UNIL has a dedicated sport science institute and has become a recognised centre of excellence for education, training and pure and applied research in this field. In addition, the Interdisciplinary Centre for Sports Research at UNIL brings together over 120 researchers from the university’s seven faculties. Together, EPFL and UNIL are running the “Sports Universitaires”, an innovative competence centre which helps to strengthen the links between research, teaching and sports practice.

Vision

To make Switzerland THE place for innovation in sport.

Missions

(1) To propose a support system for innovation in sport. (2) Strengthen the collaboration between the different sectors of the sports ecosystem to foster innovation. (3) To offer new project opportunities to Swiss companies involved with sport and physical activity. (4) To create competitive advantages for Swiss start-ups, SMEs and companies. (5) To promote viable solutions for social challenges.

Process

Projects within the Innovation Booster (IB) are composed of four phases leading from (1) the definition of a challenge to (2) the generation of ideas and (3) the testing of the hypotheses of each idea to (4) the development of two projects per theme leader.

Over the next four years (2021-2024) the IB aims to pursue 22 different challenges. These challenges will be generated by the ecosystem itself with applications to be encouraged via an on-going open call. The different challenges will be selected considering the relevance of the proposal and the alignment with the declared goals of the IB. For example, they must be in line with the vision of the IB, respond to a challenge (economic, social, societal, environmental, etc.), and create value in Switzerland.

Participants / contributors can come from any sector and have different levels of experience. Students with an interest in the challenge are also welcome to join in.

Background Information

With an estimated turnover of 22.2 billion francs, the Swiss sports economy produces gross added value of 11.4 billion francs and is equivalent to 97,900 full-time jobs per year. Thereby, overall sport contributes 1.7% to the gross domestic product (GDP) and 2.4% to the Swiss labour market. This national context and Switzerland’s rich sport ecosystem provide an outstanding opportunity and a fruitful ground to drive innovation in sport.

The exceptional concentration of sports organisations (70+ in Switzerland including notably the IOC, UEFA and FIFA), academic institutions and private companies with activities related to sport and physical activity makes Switzerland a unique competence centre in this field. With the city of Lausanne and the canton of Vaud as its epicentre, the Innovation Booster is a valuable opportunity to connect the exceptional sport ecosystem of this region to the rest of Switzerland, thereby enhancing innovative inter-cantonal partnerships and projects.

Multidisciplinary/sectoral sport and physical activity represent a vast field of research opportunities with important economic and societal stakes for the public and private sectors, the academic world and sport organisations alike.