Sportinnovator

Sporting events serve as real-life testing environments for innovation in this project. SMEs are given the opportunity to test their solutions in a dynamic, real-world setting, such as the Hockey World Cup in Amsterdam in 2026. The focus is on innovations that stimulate sports participation and contribute to the sustainability of the sports sector.

The selected teams—consisting of an SME and a university of applied sciences—work with an existing prototype that is tested and further developed during the event. They are supported by Innofest’s innovation brokers, who guide them before, during, and after the testing phase. The project applies the “Test Like the Best” methodology.

The project explores questions such as:

• How do innovations perform in the context of a live sporting event?
• What is needed to develop a prototype into a viable solution?
• What role do guidance and testing environments play in accelerating innovation?

The experiments provide insight into the performance and applicability of innovations in a complex, public setting. At the same time, the project generates knowledge on how sporting events can be structurally used as testing grounds for societal and sustainable innovations.

€51,368 will be used as a PPP program grant.