Open Innovation
Linking startups and sporting entities offers a winning option for all sides: Combining ideas and an innovative problem-solution approach, with an abundance of resources and access to markets and customers. However, many startups are unable to find a pathway to collaborate with larger organisations, who are working within established processes and without full visibility of potential options, making it difficult to find and implement “the next big thing”.
Open Innovation is a fantastic opportunity to develop and implement new ideas, products and solutions, making for more efficient business operations, increasing access and participation, or improving performance for our athletes. Open Innovation pathways enable new innovations to thrive through discovery and validation, removing barriers that sports innovators and sporting entities are often faced with limited resources, funding pressures, and conflicting priorities.
ASTN’s Open Innovation program provides a facilitated process, ensuring meaningful collaboration between organisations and startups, which in turn provide novel and innovative solutions to boost their on-field performance, enhance their off-field operations, or any opportunity that will give them an advantage across their business.
ASTN has developed and delivered a number of successful Open Innovation programs – for more details, please visit our Previous Open Innovation Programs.
Quicklinks
- Previous Open Innovation Programs
- NRL Magic Round Sportstech Innovation Program
- Going Beyond the Hype and Getting Down to Business
- ASTN Open Innovation Masterclass 2023
- 'Pitch to the Renegades' - Sports Innovation - 2023
NRL Magic Round Sportstech Innovation Program
In partnership with the National Rugby League (NRL) and Queensland’s Innovation Division, Advance Queensland, ASTN is delivering the NRL Magic Round Tech Sprint – a first-of-its-kind sportstech industry access program designed to unlock innovation across the game.
The NRL Sportstech Innovation Program is a collaboration aimed at solving real-world challenges in professional rugby league by leveraging the creativity and capability of Queensland’s innovative small business community. This program is part of the broader NRL Magic Round agreement with Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ) from 2025–2027.
Program Objectives
The program is designed to help the NRL:
- Discover innovative products that solve real operational, performance, or fan engagement challenges
- Support companies in aligning to one or more of the NRL’s seven priority areas (e.g. in-stadium experience, athlete health, CALD audience engagement, etc.)
- Build a pipeline of Queensland-led sportstech solutions with national and global potential
Program Overview
Eight QLD businesses were selected to take part in the 10-week NRL Magic Round Tech Sprint, which includes five core workshops, weekly meetings with the NRL subject matter experts and mentoring from the ASTN to help to pivot and tailor their innovative products to the NRL’s needs.
The eight selected businesses are:
- Australian Armour Company Pty Ltd (Fempro Armour) - Shock Absorbing Memory Foam for Injury Prevention
- Cerge Pty Ltd - Cérge – Your Digital Concierge
- Cool Beans Underwear Pty Ltd - Cool Beans Men's Health Underwear
- Forty Ground Floor Pty Ltd (Crowd Canvas) - CrowdCanvas
- Imagine Realities Pty Ltd - AR|VR|Games Outsourcing Studio | Imagine Realities
- Myriad Studios Pty Ltd – Myriad Studios – Delivering VFX Solutions for Film & Games – lidar scanning, photogrammetry, cyberscan, texturing, location surveying
- Talk All Sport Pty Ltd - talkallsport
- WearOptimo Pty Ltd – WearOptimo | Wearable Biometrics | Hydration Monitoring Device | Brisbane Australia
Program Delivery
As the official delivery partner of the 10-week Tech Sprint, ASTN plays a pivotal role as the innovation intermediary in guiding participating companies through a structured process of refinement, validation, and commercialisation. ASTN provides:
- Sportstech Gap & Needs Analysis
- Masterclasses and 1:1 Mentoring
- Industry Engagement & Investor Pitch Coaching
- Additional Support, including access to a 12-month ASTN membership, commercialisation support, industry events, and networking opportunities
Also see ASTN Press Release: ASTN kicks off 2025 NRL Magic Round Tech Sprint
Going Beyond the Hype and Getting Down to Business
Linking startups and large corporations seems to offer the best of both worlds: Combining ideas and an innovative problem-solution approach with an abundance of resources and access to markets and customers. In a world where most of the knowledge exists outside the walls of any given firm, bringing in ideas promises gaining access to the potential next big thing for corporates. Conversely, many startups fail due to a lack of paying customers and therefore could benefit from the existing channels of the large corporate. However, more often startups are wary of the big corporate stealing their idea and IP, whereas corporate processes, like brand protection, budget considerations and sales execution of core business can kill the new quickly.
About Henry Chesbrough
Henry Chesbrough is Faculty Director of the Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation within the Institute of Business Innovation at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. His research focuses on managing technology and innovation. He is known as the father of open innovation, due to his book, Open Innovation (Harvard Business School Press, 2003). This book was named a Best Business Book by Strategy & Business magazine, and the best book on innovation on NP's All Things Considered. Scientific American magazine named him one of the top 50 technology and business leaders in recognition of his research on industrial innovation. Prior to embarking on an academic career, he spent ten years in various product planning and strategic marketing positions in Silicon Valley companies. He worked for seven of those years at Quantum Corporation, a leading hard disk drive manufacturer and a Fortune 500 company. Previously, he worked at Bain and Company.