Beyond the vuvuzelas: How applying science to sport pushes innovation

When Daniel Berckmans, a professor at KU Leuven in Belgium, started studying bugs two decades ago, trying to attract corporate backers was impossible. “No company was interested in investing in research on insects,” he recalls.

But now his research has found a fan: Italian soccer team AC Milan uses software he developed in his insect studies to predict the physical and mental state of its players. It thinks it helps improve the team’s performance. Before training every day, the players go to the laboratory to be fitted with sensors, heart monitors, 3D accelerators and position antennae that measure their movements and reactions on the field. After training, they go to the ‘mind room’ where their mental status is assessed. And all of this is from Berckman’s research on how insects respond to their environment.

Strange but true: There is a strong and growing link between science and sport, in every domain imaginable. Not only is technology being developed that helps enhance the performance of elite sportsmen and women, but there are also developments relating to recreational sports, medicine and nutrition, sporting infrastructure and transport systems for international sporting events. And the list goes on: Sport can also help meet developmental and health objectives and contribute to community development and peace-building.

This connection, between science and sports, was the focus of a conference in Brussels on September 29, organised by South Africa’s Department of Science and Technology: ‘Beyond the Vuvuzelas: Unleashing sport as a driver of research and innovation.’ The conference was organised with Science|Business.

Formula 1 raises interest in telemetry and tracking

Phil Mjwara, director-general of the South African Department of Science and Technology, highlighted the importance of the sport/science link. Sport “generates sizeable revenue” and has an important role to play in social cohesion, he said.

One government initiative that Mjwara described was a programme that used sport to recruit young people into engineering. The initiative took the youngsters to a Formula 1 track where they could see the racing cars and how much technology is embedded in them. “It’s an interesting way to raise their interest in telemetry and tracking,” Mjwara said. “[We are] using sport and technology to attract talent.”

Of course, sport is economically important. According to Alain Cadec, a member of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with South Africa, sport has generated €400 billion in added value and created 15 million jobs in the EU. The European Commission is currently paving the way for an investigation to be carried out to access the impact of sport on economic growth and employment, especially in relation to infrastructure development and tourism.

South Africa’s minister of science and technology, Naledi Pandor, pointed to ways in which sports technology can not only help athletes enhance their performance and improve the staging of sporting events, but also have a positive impact on industry. She gave the examples of the textile industry producing lighter materials for swimwear, or quantum physics technology being used in stadia to prevent interference with time measurements. We would like to establish, “A partnership that will give us answers through science,” she said.

Sport plays a wider social role

Speakers at the seminar also noted that sport is a means to address wider social issues such as youth offending, obesity and healthy ageing. For Reinhard Büscher, head of unit for innovation support at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry, sport will play “a key role” in tackling these challenges, but he does not consider that sport should be hived off as a separate area. “Policymakers should concentrate on policy issues” such as ageing society, healthcare and clean cars, not sport alone, he said.

But Marco Cardinale, head of sports science and research at the British Olympic Association, argued that there should be a programme that gives direct funding access for sport. “Sport is a bit of a swear word when you apply for grants,” he said, explaining that it is often seen as only being applicable to an elite group. But many innovations in sport can be applied more widely, he said.

A number of case studies were presented at the seminar. Take for example the EU-funded project STADIUM, which aims to improve the performance of transport services and systems for large events in big cities. The project has developed a Demand Responsive Transport service that was used during the football World Cup in South Africa this year, helping to track vehicles in real-time, reduce traffic congestion and improve booking services. Applications were also be put into practice at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India and will be used at the 2012 Olympics in the UK.

On the nutrition front, Susanne Braun of Stuttgart University presented a research project on marama beans, a crop grown in southern Africa and recognised for its high protein and oil content. Braun and her colleagues are developing food supplements based on marama for use both in sports nutrition, and to treat the sick and elderly.

The project is based on “sound science” and aims to develop a healthy and safe line of products using the marama bean, Braun said.

Many sports technologies are being developed to help sports men and women improve their performance. Examples include biomechanical analysis to study patterns of play on a rugby field, data visualisation technology such as Hawk-Eye to analyse tennis or cricket shots from different perspectives, or telemetry systems for measuring rowers’ heart rates, the strain on the oars, or the seat position.

Doing well in international sporting events is something for which most nations strive. But success doesn’t materialise just from identifying a talented young sports person. Developing talent requires a number of support systems, from coaching, to nutrition and physiotherapy and a range of other resources.

One conclusion of the seminar was that industry and government have distinctly different roles in the promotion of sports technology development. As Christos Spitas, professor at TU Delft, put it, companies tend to focus on R&D with short-term returns – but they are more willing to invest in a long-term project if there is government support. Governments do therefore have a role to play in supporting innovation in sport, Spitas said.

For more information, see the conference presentations.