Sports tech diplomacy: the new Olympics
Sports tech has the power to change sports as we know them – from wearable technology, to implants or the latest in analytical software. Digital innovations in media, AI and big data are not only advancing the industry, but becoming essential to playing sport, consuming sport, and doing business in the sporting world.
One of the less spoken about benefits of the advancements in sports tech is the diplomacy that comes with it. That is, the ways in which innovations by sports tech companies and the hyper-connected, global sports tech ecosystem help develop international relations and nation branding: not just within sports, or person to person, but between countries.
This use of sports innovation and technology in the context of national image and diplomacy is called ‘sports tech diplomacy’. Countries seeking to use sports for national branding and foreign policy objectives increasingly need to rely upon innovative approaches, rendering sports tech diplomacy a key vehicle for public diplomacy and soft power. The race to use it successfully in the international arena is really the new Olympics.
Sports tech diplomacy combines the universally attractive and understood platform of sport with the latest innovations to showcase tech prowess internationally. The result is a projected image that a country has strength in emerging tech, but in a context that is trusted.
Diplomacy through sports innovation
Sports tech is the easily digestible entry point to almost-immeasurable opportunities in multinational and diplomatic relationships. It extends to athlete development, smart stadia, fan engagement, health and fitness, gaming and Esports, and media and broadcasting. International sports tech businesses and organisations target trade partners, building trust between those companies and regions, leading to broader trade offerings.
The effects of these relationships reach far beyond the pitch or stadium. For example, as India and Australia have cemented themselves as cricket superpowers, their international relations with each other have grown, too. As summed up by a report in The International Journal of the History of Sport, “Cricket has become central to Indo-Australian relations in recent years.” The report goes on to highlight the “‘imagined community” which arises between a shared love of the sport – an instant relationship touchpoint between two different cultures, which otherwise would not exist.
Another example is the influence that rugby league and union have had on the development of the Pacific Islands, and subsequent policy initiatives in defence, foreign policy and health. China has leveraged the soft power of rugby league by establishing the World Nines Confederation Cup in Samoa and funding the stadium in which it was held in 2020. Likewise, Australia has announced increased investment in sports programs in Rugby League across the Pacific, including funding a new Fiji-based team to enter the NSW Rugby League competition and new Pacific-based international and preseason NRL games. Clearly, Australia sees rugby as a key agent of soft power to meet China’s growing influence in the Pacific.
Sports diplomacy is developed hand-in-hand with international sports tech, in a new world of media convergence, high performance derived through the advantage of sports tech-informed analytics, and next-generation digital engagement by fans.
Sports tech is inherently global
I participate as a mentor in a few sports tech accelerators, in Australia and internationally, and each one of them has been a diverse representation of founding countries from around the world akin to an Olympics opening ceremony. Even within pitching teams, membership is multi-national, with teams often located in multiple different countries.
Many of the companies making waves in sports tech have decentralised models of global reach. This means that they can easily operate across nations and cultures. By testing innovations in global sports, those innovators in sports tech often attract multinational investment – bringing in significant funding from around the world to the sector, and its home nation’s economy.
For that reason, sports tech founders often travel the world, and navigate complex political contexts during the process of pitching, market testing, collaborating, acquiring and exporting. While fostering their business networks and supply chains, they become representatives of their founding nation, marking it as an innovative, tech-savvy leader – as well as a key player in sports.
The relatively small nations of Australia and Israel are exemplars of sports tech diplomacy in action. To reach global markets in sports tech, founders from these nations have set up international offices, effectively building their home nation’s brands in innovation and international relations.
HYPE Sports Innovation is one organisation putting this idea into practice. The company’s Global Virtual Accelerator network of 40,000 members across 12 countries understands the importance of taking new ideas in sports tech to international markets and uses its global presence to nurture partnerships between sports tech startups and the world’s biggest clubs and brands. By understanding the global implications for new tech innovations, the accelerator builds its global reputation as a start-up connector among influential partners, including universities, professional sports, sponsors and capital markets. In doing so, HYPE Sports help build founding nation of Israel’s brand in innovation and international relations.
Sports tech can foster collaboration among governments, sports federations and the private sector by providing technological solutions to grow participation in events such as distance running. Singapore-based Liv3Ly is an example, providing registration, payment and database management for events across South-East Asia. From Germany, B42 provides App-based performance and rehab training programs for 70,000 athletes across Europe, and UK-based AiScout uses AI technology to identify and develop football talent.
Meanwhile in Silicon Valley, sports tech also proliferates and embodies diplomacy with multicultural founding teams that instantly provide trust and reach into their home nations. For example, the founders of AI-driven virtual coaching platform Uplift Labs include Tesla Motors Japan president Sukemasa Kabayama, ex-Go Pro executive Jonathan Wills and human-computer interaction expert, Rahul Rajan.
Sports tech success stories from Australia include Vald, Fusion and Catapult. Through its high-performance analytics devices Vald Performance serves defence, sport and allied health sectors globally, including over 1000 elite sporting teams. It is therefore emerging as a pinup for sports tech diplomacy and brand innovation Australia. Catapult Sports’ wearable high performance technology is used by 39 sports and 2970 teams globally, and Fusion Sport is providing performance analytics devices to professional sports, particularly in the United States. Some of these technologies have been born from government seed funding, accelerator infrastructure and university partnerships, also signaling Australia as a start-up nation and building its international relations through sports tech markets.
Esports: Sports tech diplomacy in action
Perhaps the most perfect example of sports tech diplomacy is found in the virtual field – the US$159.3 billion Esports and gaming sector, which is growing exponentially across the globe. Esports is the clearest connection to the next generation of popular culture around the world; a pure example of the convergence of fashion, media, sport and music, and the power that combination holds to touch every corner of culture. Why else would Louis Vuitton design the trophy case for the 2019 League of Legends World Championship, or Metallica be involved in the music for pro Esports league, E-league? Throughout history it has been through such cultural sectors as art and music that diplomacy and international understanding has been nurtured.
In Esports, global tournaments and leagues are hosted virtually and in stadia, and include young participants and fans from around the world, representing a powerful platform to build international relations among future leaders. Communication across the hyperconnected Esports ecosystem is regular, informal and trusted – diplomacy at its best.
More than just sports
Sports tech doesn’t just have the potential to change sports and the economy. Sports tech doesn’t even stop at diversifying its innovations into health, media and defence sectors. It can and does do all of those things, but its true potential is even more aspirational: world peace. Sports tech is a key tool for diplomacy and the generation of soft power for nations around the globe.
With sport facing new challenges – including the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, diminished public funding, remote fans and protests – sports tech diplomacy is set to become a major strategy as countries, communities and athletes search for innovative and tech-based options for soft power and diplomacy objectives.
The sports tech Olympics is now underway and its exponential impacts are already being cheered on around the globe. This important form of soft power is getting louder.
About the Author
Professor Sarah Kelly, renowned for her global academic, leadership and governance expertise across education and sports management, drives forward-thinking initiatives to the world stage. A distinguished ‘prac-academic’, commercial lawyer and champion for inclusivity, Sarah leads with innovation and insight. For exclusive updates on the latest in sport, management, leadership, education, innovation, and research, subscribe at DrSarahKelly.com.au