Sports Tech Nation Summit brings together global sports leaders to promote tech innovation

The Sports Tech Nation Summit 2020, organized by Colosseum, an international sports tech innovation group based in Tel Aviv, got underway on Tuesday, this year as an online event due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The three-day summit, which runs until Thursday, brings together global sports and innovation leaders from more than 60 countries to discuss the latest trends and get acquainted with the most disruptive ventures at the intersection of sports and technology.

Among the more than 70 speakers participating are former cyclist Lance Armstrong, currently a Partner at Next Ventures; Ishwara Glassman Chrein, Head of Sports Partnerships and Business Development at Yahoo Sports/Verizon Media; Jean-Baptiste Alliot, Innovation Strategy Specialist at UEFA; Hannah Gordon, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel of the San Francisco 49ers; Javier Sobrino, Chief Strategy Innovation Officer of FC Barcelona and Wim Stocks, Chairman of CSL Esports.

“It was an amazing year for e-sports and it’s only going to grow from here," Stocks said on Tuesday. "We lead data in sport. We can work together with other sports sectors to push sports forward. For everyone that says that e-sport is not a sport they need to see the gamers, they train, eat and sleep sports. They are equal to any other athletes."

Colosseum is a sports tech innovation firm (Colosseum Sport) and a sports tech VC in formation (Colosseum Ventures) founded by Oren Simanian, a former professional soccer referee. The group has launched the first open source platform for the sports tech industry and the first academic degree in sports tech with the Wingate Institute in Netanya.

"After three years of hard work, it’s not a vision but a reality. Israeli tech is almost in every top league and almost every sports vertical," he said. "We are here to continue our mission to impact the sports industry and help more sports tech companies grow."

The summit is hosted in partnership with the city of Tel Aviv, with mayor Ron Huldai opening the summit at Tuesday's online gala event. Huldai announced that the city of Tel Aviv, in partnership with Kapayim Active, is launching a running tech challenge, calling tech companies and entrepreneurs to offer digital solutions for the upcoming Tel Aviv Marathon to be held on February 19, 2021. Unlike in previous years, there won't be any mass races due to the pandemic, with runners required to register online, download the race app and participate in a custom course they measured themselves with the app.