Output Sports to Pitch at Start-up Competition in Boston
Output Sports, a University College Dublin (UCD) spin-out company, has been selected to pitch at a start-up competition being held as part of the 13th MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.
Output Sports is among only 8 start-ups from around the world chosen to pitch at the event and is the only Irish company selected.
The conference, which brings together leading figures in sports analytics, business, and technology, takes place on 1-2 March at the Hynes Convention Centre, Boston.
The annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference provides a forum for industry and business professionals, students and sports fans to discuss the increasing role of analytics in the global sports industry. The conference is dedicated to fostering growth and innovation in this area, and enriches opportunities for learning about the sports business world.
Using just a single wearable motion sensor Output Sports tests and tracks multiple components of athletic performance. This enables sports coaches to gain a true understanding of their athletes and to optimise their peak performance with a new level of practicality, portability and data-integration.
The founders of Output Sports have collected unique athletic data sets during 5+ years of interdisciplinary research at UCD, on which they have trained their machine-learning algorithms.
Using these algorithms the results provided by the Output Sports’ platform match the gold-standard quality of biomechanical research equipment, currently used by coaches, more cost effectively and time efficiently.
Output Sports, a spin-out from the UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, was founded in 2018 by Dr Martin O'Reilly, Dr Darragh Whelan, Julian Eberle and Professor Brian Caulfield, based on research they carried out at the Science Foundation Ireland funded Insight Centre for Data Analytics at UCD.
The company is headquartered at NovaUCD, the Centre for New Ventures and Entrepreneurs.
The start-up pitching competition provides an opportunity for selected start-ups and small companies to showcase their innovations in the fields of sports-related technologies, products, and services to potential customers, business partners and investors.
At this year’s conference there are two start-up competition tracks, a SportsTech track and a Fan Experience track. Output Sports has been selected to pitch at the SportsTech track alongside 5 US companies, and a company from Australia and a company from Sweden.
Dr Martin O’Reilly, co-founder and CEO, Output Sports, said, “With a record number of competition entries this year, we are delighted to be among a small number of companies from around the world selected to pitch our technology at the prestigious MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.”
“Output Sports provides a simple-to-use, end-to-end solution that tests and tracks sporting performance with laboratory grade accuracy and integrates this data to allow for improved training programmes, injury risk stratification and talent identification and is initially aimed at the elite sports market.”
“Over thirty elite and top flight teams in Ireland and the UK are currently trialling our product and taking part in this competition will enable us to introduce our innovative sports analytics product to elite sporting teams in the US market.”
At the competition each participating start-up will have 5 minutes to pitch their business, to a judging panel comprised of industry experts and investors, followed by a 3 minute question and answer session.
A $5,000 prize will be presented to the overall winners of both competition tracks.
ENDS
27 February 2019
For further information contact Micéal Whelan, Communications Manager, UCD Research and Innovation, e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie or t: +353 1 716 3712.
Editors Notes
Further information on the 13th MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference is available via www.sloansportsconference.com/current/ #ssac19 and @sloansportsconf
At NovaUCD, the hub for new ventures and entrepreneurs at University College Dublin, we nurture and support new high-tech and knowledge-intensive companies as part of UCD’s mission. At NovaUCD we provide purpose-built, state-of-the-art incubation facilities alongside a comprehensive business support programme for client companies such as Output Sports. NovaUCD has been funded through a unique public-private partnership that includes AIB Bank, Arthur Cox, Deloitte, Enterprise Ireland, Ericsson, Goodbody Stockbrokers, UCD and Xilinx. www.ucd.ie/novaucd