Excellent international line-up of participants in Air Quality & Sport Challenge

It’s official! More than 20 start-ups, established companies, academics and organisations from Switzerland and abroad are participating in the first ever Air Quality & Sport Challenge. The aim is to generate viable and creative solutions, which can be leveraged by international sport federations, sport event organisers, mountain resorts and athletes to tackle climate change.

Following the application deadline earlier this month, all participants gathered for the first time this week to present their solutions to the Challenge organisers and supporters during a one-minute pitch. All of the proposed concepts address one of the following pressing topics:

•  Measure and mitigate the effect of poor air quality on athletes:
  This includes solutions to ensure Air Quality information is available and useful for decision making in real time for recreational and professional athletes. Wearable technologies, bio- health solutions and other simple solutions are welcome.
• Solutions that clean polluted air and / or reduce air pollution:
  This refers to indoor and outdoor sport venues of all sizes, with scalable and affordable solutions.
• Rethink mobility:
  ​This applies to major sport events and mountain resorts (e.g. zero emission vehicles, smart traffic management etc.).

Click here to discover the full list of participants.

The Challenge is organised by ThinkSport, together with the Sustainable Sport Lab (SSL) and the Sustainable Mountain Alliance (SMA), and supported by prestigious stakeholders, including the International Olympic Committee, World Athletics, Formula E, UCI and ENGSO. The supporters used the first meeting to explain to the participants their strong interest in the outcomes of the Challenge and what they have been already doing to date to tackle air quality issues. 

Next for the participants: leveraging the online network accelerator provided by the organisers to receive advice by industry experts before getting ready for the final pitch in front of an expert panel on 26 April. The ten best finalists will be invited to present their smart solutions at THE SPOT, ThinkSport’s international sport and innovation flagship event, on 17 and 18 May in Lausanne.