ASTN Member News

Australia’s Rosterfy is managing the 5,000+ volunteers at this year’s Super Bowl – for the eighth year in a row. The Aussie company is behind some of the world’s largest events, including South by Southwest (SXSW) and the London Marathon. Rosterfy’s cloud-based volunteer engagement platform automates the volunteer recruitment, screening, training and scheduling process. In 2019, Rosterfy launched in the US and UK. Today, the company is managing 3 million volunteers in 26 countries.

ASTN member Gerford AI has been chosen as one of 10 global startups to present new technologies and potential solutions at the annual ICE365 Conference in London this week. Details of the selected startups are at: https://www.icegaming.com/features/fast-forward

A new world-first protective armour, designed for women, is set to be a "game changer" for female contact sports – hopefully prolonging careers and minimising injuries. The prototype works like an airbag, absorbing energy and using viscoelastic memory foam to push the impact back away from the player. Bond University players will test out the new armour in a three-stage clinical trial and a global retail roll-out will take place.

Next Level Racing has announced a new chapter in their collaboration with Microsoft Flight Simulator, as they launch the inaugural community fly-in event. This online gaming event is set to unite flight simulation enthusiasts from across the MSFS and Next Level Racing communities, as they embark on a virtual flight from Sydney to the Gold Coast. The event is scheduled to take flight on February 8th at 0200Z for two hours, offering participants the chance to navigate the iconic route, famed for its breathtaking scenery and challenging flight paths. 

Google Cloud and PMY Group (PMY) today announced a new, multi-year partnership in which Google Cloud will serve as PMY’s technology partner for selected sports, events, and venue customers. Under the partnership, Google Cloud and PMY are excited to announce a new multi-year agreement for Google to  serve as the Technology Partner of LIV Golf, while Google and PMY will also be working on projects with several major sports and lifestyle brands, helping to transform fan experiences through generative AI. 

HITIQ today announces it has executed a strategic partnership with the Australian Football League (AFL) to supply both its Nexus head impact sensor technology and concussion management platform to the AFL and AFLW competitions for season 2024.

The AIS will today launch the ‘Concussion and Brain Health Position Statement 2024’ and the ‘Australian Concussion Guidelines for Youth and Community Sport’. The guidelines were developed in a collaboration between the Australian Institute of Sport, Sports Medicine Australia, the Australasian College of Sport and Exercise Physicians, and the Australian Physiotherapy Association. The AIS return to sport protocol for community and youth sport includes a minimum period of 21 days until the resumption of competitive contact/collision sport. 

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Griffith University has partnered with Sports Tech College to develop and deliver a suite of executive education programs designed specifically for sport executives and senior administrators within sport. The programs will focus on inspiring, sharing and discussing cutting-edge advancements, and collaboratively discussing the road-map for blending technology with sports.

Teamworks has announced the acquisition of Kairos, a communication and messaging software for professional sports. Teamworks currently works with 200 pro organizations around the globe, having entered the market more than a decade ago. In the past three years, Kairos has built an extensive customer roster of over 100 organizations, primarily in global football and rugby.

Sportradar today announced the launch of Sportradar FanID, a unique, end-to-end first-party marketing solution combining the first data clean room for the sports industry with the company’s proprietary marketing activation technology, to offer rightsholders and brands personalized fan engagement in a post-third-party cookie world.

Fans attending the Australian Open 2024 will for the first time have access to intuitive digital navigation on the official AO mobile app and website. Fans will be able to find all the matches, attractions, amenities, and events during the tournament thanks to PAM's Smart Navigation Platform. PAM is a company in the 2024 cohort of AO Startups.

Teamworks, who in 2023 acquired Australina-born Smartabase, has announced the acquisition of Front Rush TRAC, an inventory management software. The new acquisition adds to Teamworks' Operating System for Sports.

PlaySpark recently annouced a partnership with the Taranaki Airs a pioneering basketball team in the NBL New Zealand league. The Airs are looking to create a more inclusive and immersive experience for their fans, locally and abroad. By implementing their platform, they will now be able to reward fans for their interactions like playing games, attending matches and interacting with other fun content.

Basketball South Australia is committed to the growth and governance of basketball in the state and is excited to announce a new partnership with TidyHQ's Tidy Connect, known for its innovative solutions in scaling governance, compliance, and risk in sports. This partnership marks an important stride in fostering sports integrity and highlighting the importance of good governance practices and advanced technology in the sports sector.

In recent years, extreme and adventure sports have become increasingly popular with the general public. The inventor of Snowtunnel®, Darren Visser, himself a passionate winter sports enthusiast, shares this vision and has been working for over 20 years on a new product that will give snowboarders and skiers the chance to enjoy their beloved sport all year round. The current version of the Snowtunnel is a rotating tube with a diameter of ten meters. The rotating action of the tube is said to let snowboarding feel like a mixture of snowboarding, surfing and skating

Omni Biotech has today announced its investment from Skalata Ventures. Skalata has joined forces with the team led by founders Zac Farrow and Willem Poot to improve global health outcomes with immediate, actionable health metrics on devices they already own. Starting with a world-first hydration metric Omni is bringing elite-level monitoring into the mainstream.

Sportable has announced that it has a raised $US 15m investment round from investors including South African-based venture firm HAVAIC, US-based Ryan Ventures and Australian fund XV Capital led by Stirling Mortlock and James Godfrey. Sportable deploys Micro-Tracking (MT) technology to enhance data collection and analysis in ball and contact sports, particularly rugby, soccer, and American football. 

Teamworks has announce its latest partnership in the National Rugby League (NRL) with the Melbourne Storm signing a multi-year Hub & Smartabase agreement. Identifying Teamworks as an integral partner to continue delivering sustained success, Hub & Smartabase will allow the Storm to streamline operations and centralize medical data in one tech stack.

Bond University has partnered with Fempro Armour a Queensland company to develop cutting-edge protective body armour designed specifically for the female body. Fempro Armour uses patented impact absorption technology to reduce the force of contact to vulnerable areas identified in extensive research into common injuries to female athletes.

One of one of Australia’s fastest-growing sports tech startups, PlayHQ, is excited to announce a new partnership with New Zealand Cricket. The move follows a successful partnership between PlayHQ and Cricket Australia, and sees NZC join a raft of major sports across Australia and New Zealand who have turned to PlayHQ to streamline their community competition and program management.

Guy Bracher is leaving the Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) after working with Australia’s sportstech startups and scaleups in the early ASTN days and again for the last two years.

ECAL has announced its new collaboration with the Frost Bank Center, the home of the San Antonio Spurs, to bring a slick and sophisticated digital calendar experience to basketball fans and concert goers. This partnership is yet another significant integration for ECAL, the world’s leading calendar marketing platform, designed to boost ticket sales, enhance customer engagement, and elevate the event experience for venues and stadia.

PMY Group (PMY) is proud to announce that its Founder and CEO, Paul Yeomans, has been recognised as a National Finalist in the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2024 Australia awards. This prestigious nomination places him among an elite group of innovative entrepreneurs across the country. Under Paul's visionary leadership, PMY has emerged as a global leader in transforming major venues and events through cutting-edge technology.

At a time when Artificial Intelligence is transforming the sports industry at an unprecedented pace, Founderz and GSIC (Global Sports Innovation Center powered by Microsoft) introduce their groundbreaking Online Program in AI in Sports. The program, to which you can already pre-enroll, is available from today to start learning in February 2024, is launching at a critical time: the global AI in sports market is expected to grow to $16 billion by 2030.

Following a competitive tender process, Sportsnet, Canada’s #1 sports network, has selected Sportradar to deliver innovative, data-driven content that creates a more immersive experience for sports fans in the North American region. Viewers can anticipate the seamless inclusion of real-time statistics, player information and advanced data sets into Sportsnet broadcasts, all made possible through Sportradar’s OnAir service. 

GameDay, powered by Stack Sports and in conjunction with Stack Team App, have partnered with Cricket Hong Kong, China to create a streamlined database and communication framework for their High-Performance Pathways division. The project is designed to ultimately enhance the digital experience of pathway players and track their engagement throughout their journey from developing to high performance athletes, while also providing a valuable cloud-based resource for cricket administrators across the pathway programmes.

Announced in September 2023, Rosterfy will be working with not-for-profit organisation, Disability Sports Australia, to streamline and manage their impressive national network of volunteers and 70 come-and-try events. Disability Sports Australia (DSA) is one of Australia’s nine (9) National Sporting Organisations for people with disability with a focus on enabling more Australians with disability to be active more often. The platform officially went live in mid-November 2023 and volunteers can now register directly with DSA on the Rosterfy plaform.

Next Level Racing has unveiled the brand-new Next Level Racing GTRacer. The GTRacer simulator cockpit has been designed specifically to deliver an immersive GT-Style racing experience for racing enthusiasts.

iNSPIRETEK is technology platform where athletes can input daily metrics including their mental health, sleep, fatigue, nutrition and stress, providing valuable insights, tools and education for sports coaches and officials to prioritise the wellbeing of athletes and the identification of potential athlete issues. The Queensland Government has now invested in iNSPIRETEK and its health technology so it can be piloted by athletes, coaches and club officials from nine state-level sporting organisations, including Basketball Queensland.

The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) has partnered with etrainu, a leading provider of community education solutions, to launch the IFAF Academy. First-of-its-kind education platform will empower member federations worldwide to build capacity and support accelerated participation growth as flag football prepares to make its debut in the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028

Australian sports advisory and investment firm XV Capital, co-founded by former Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock and business partner James Godfrey, today announced a strategic partnership and equity agreement with CoachMate, a trailblazing sports technology company based in New Zealand. The partnership is poised to redefine grassroots community sport and offer invaluable support to sports organisations and communities while championing lifelong sports participation.

PlaySpark (formerly Spark Up Studios) recently partnered with Adelaide Lighting basketball club to implement their fan engagement platform to drive a more personalised and fun experience.

Smart Navigation platform PAM and the Los Angeles Rams are announcing that PAM will serve as the Technology Solutions Partner for the organization for a period of three years. During the 2022 season, PAM’s platform was used to enable Rams content to be shared directly with fans and visitors to SoFi Stadium during Rams game days. 

The AFL has today entered a 10-year strategic partnership with global sports and entertainment leader TGI Sport. The AFL and TGI will deliver fans a brand new at match experience via new and innovative LED signage, digital screen and fan engagement offerings at both the MCG and Marvel Stadium.

In 2023, France had the honor of hosting the Rugby World Cup, an event of significance in the world of sports. To take fan engagement and excitement to new heights, organizers turned to the ‘Sync to Calendar’ marketing solution provided by ECAL, a trusted partner of World Rugby.

A total of 17 of 18 AFL clubs use Tradable Bits for fan engagement, sponsorship, community and data-focused activations. Across these clubs there was nearly a 20% rise in campaign entries in 2023 and a 15% increase in communication subscriptions. The article take a deep dive into case studies from each club on how they engaged with fans, sponsors and the community through online activations.

The Australian Institute of Sport will hold its Sports Technology and Applied Research Symposium (STARS) from 15-17 November under the theme of ‘Driving Innovation in Sport’. Across 14 sessions presenters have been tasked with giving the STARS audience ideas, concepts, and insights into what it will take to ensure that the Australian high performance system is prepared to take advantage of ‘ten years of opportunity’ leading into Brisbane 2032.

STARS will again be held virtually via Microsoft Teams. The Symposium is free to attend for those in the Australian sports system and our industry and university partners.

In 2020, ASTN member Gangi Group was researching germicidal lighting and discovered high quality UV-C and anti-microbial blue light fittings. The company realised the need for automated, sustainable and effective disinfection and set about creating innovative, world-first solutions. And Lindo was born.

Lindo developed and manufactured lighting solutions that can break down the DNA structure of 99.9% of viruses and bacteria (including COVID 19). The lights are so effective it mitigates the need to use toxic cleaning chemicals. Less bleach, less risk, less manual labour, and more sustainable.

Lindo’s primary focus lies in creating, constructing, and producing stationary lighting systems that enhance the overall health and well-being of front-line workers and occupants in industries ranging from defence to healthcare and aviation. 

ECAL has announced a partnership with leading online marketing platform Optimove. ECAL provides Optimove's clients with a proven digital-calendar marketing channel to engage with an audience that is sophisticated and tech savvy. ECAL helps deliver 'in-time' promotions and messaging, enabling deeper personalisation and connection. ECAL's dynamic calendar marketing technology is used by many of the world's very best brands including Premier League, Formula 1, LaLiga, The FA, England Cricket Board, ICC Cricket, NBC Sports, bet365, Liverpool FC, FC Barcelona, and many others.

With the commencement of the 2023/24 A-Leagues season, Brisbane Roar has unveiled a collaboration with digital engagement platform Tiparra. The ‘Roar App’ will revolutionise how fans engage with Brisbane Roar, offering an unparalleled interactive game-day experience.  Tiparra, renowned for its innovation in the digital space, specialises in turning passive spectators into active participants. Through the Roar App, fans can engage in real-time, creating an immersive experience through features like live polls, interactive matchday programs, competitions, and exclusive updates – all available at fans’ fingertips.