Get to know innovative start-ups in the region: Sensiwall’s technology takes athletes to the next level

The latest edition of the Global Innovation Index, published last week by Cornell University, business school INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), ranked Switzerland the most innovative country for the seventh consecutive year. In the past years, it has scored particularly high in knowledge and technology output, an area also leveraged by sport stakeholders.

One of them is Sensiwall, a recent start-up based in the largest science and technology park in Switzerland, the “Y-Parc” in Yverdon-les-Bains, a city located in the canton of Vaud. The young company is a spin-off of HEIG-VD, the School of Engineering and Management Vaud. Sensiwall develops technology for training and measuring sports performance for all types of ball sports, with the ultimate objective to improve the cognitive senses of athletes.

ThinkSport met with Sensiwall co-founder Mickael Justo to learn more about their products and the people behind them.

ThinkSport: Tell us more about your products and the innovative technology you are using.
Mickael Justo: Our first solution, called Prometheus, is a technology that uses flexible walls which allow reproducing game-like situations for different ball sports, but also for other activities in urban settings. The walls can be moved at discretion either on the field of play, at other locations or during personal training. Then, it is possible to either customise your training or follow a choice of set programmes. Prometheus is tailored to professional clubs and academies.

Click here for a product demonstration of Prometheus.

Then we have another product, called Look Up. This solution, based on connected light cells, allows a complete workflow: from physical condition to cognitive training and to the training match. Whilst Look Up enables the coach to improve his training process by displaying different colours, it does not offer any statistics. It is a lower-cost solution and therefore tailored more to small clubs and academies.

By focusing on field awareness, vision, motor function and execution speed, Sensiwall trains and improves athletes' technical skills and cognitive capabilities, thereby allowing them to make the right decision in a timely manner. Our first products were designed for football and we got  the input of several football coaches when developing them. We wanted to make sure we really develop something that meets the needs of athletes and their coaches.

Click here for a product demonstration of Look Up.

ThinkSport: How did you get the product idea for your start-up?
Mickael Justo: Sensiwall is the brainchild of our CEO Valentin Vuagniaux who wrote his master thesis at HEIG-VD about the technology we are using. Post thesis, Valentin wanted to test his product in the sport environment and he chose football to start with. In football you use a rather big ball with a strong impact – both features which were favourable to the application of our technology. Plus football is obviously an important market. However, this is just the start and we are customising our product to other ball sports like hockey.

ThinkSport: How many people work at Sensiwall?
Mickael Justo: We are a team of eight. This includes four co-founders, additional employees and trainees. As one of the co-founders I am looking after further developing our methodology as well as after communication.

ThinkSport: Is your product already on the market and if so, where can you buy it?
Mickael Justo: Just not yet, but it should not take much longer. We are currently talking to an international company which is interested in distributing our product.

ThinkSport: How do you take advantage of the rich sport ecosystem in the region, with a unique concentration of individuals, organisations, academic institutions and businesses all specialised in sport?
Mickael Justo: We really feel to be at the right place at the right time. In fact, we started to take advantage of this wealth of sport expertise around us already during our studies. As a spin-off of HEIG-VD, we are also working closely with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and the University of Lausanne (UNIL). Our technology is being used at the UNIL Sport and Health Centre (Centre Sport et Santé) and even the police is taking advantage of it for training purposes.  In addition, the Cantonal School of Art, ECAL, has supported us in design questions.

Last but not least, Switzerland hosts a large number of sport organisations and for our first product tailored for football, we have been in contact with UEFA and FIFA. For us, Switzerland and the canton of Vaud are the perfect place to be!

ThinkSport: Did you also receive any subventions at cantonal or federal level?
Mickael Justo: Yes, we were quite lucky and received different FIT (Fondation pour l’Innovation Technologique) grants as well as an award, called “Prix Genilem” from HES-VD (Hautes Ecoles Spécialisées) in 2016. This annual award is open to students and alumni of the HES Geneva and Vaud schools and offers a springboard for those who want to transform their innovative idea into a company, organisation or association.

Then, we also have a partnership with SPECo, Vaud’s Office for Economic Affairs, which provides direct financial incentives for start-ups looking to innovate or expand.

ThinkSport: What are your plans for the future?
Mickael Justo: We definitely aim to grow further and to take our technology international and beyond football. Our product can be applied across many different sports at elite as well as at recreational levels. Markets we would like to leverage include Europe, the US, South America and China.

Learn more about Sensiwall