UK Sport

Britain's Scientists, Engineers and Inventors encouraged to make their mark on British performances in 2012

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Jessica Whitehorn 27 May 2010

Deadline to apply for the £25,000 prize 9 July 2010

While most of us cannot aspire to winning Olympic or Paralympic gold on home soil in London in two year’s time, UK-based scientists, engineers and inventors still have a once in a lifetime opportunity to contribute to Great Britain’s success at this momentous sporting occasion.

UK Sport’s Ideas4Innovation awards scheme is aimed at harnessing exceptional research concepts and proposals which, given sufficient funding and support, could boost British athletes’ performances at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. Since the scheme was launched in 2008, UK Sport has awarded three prizes of £25,000 to students and individuals to invest in the development of their ideas. The deadline for applying for the 2010 prize is in just six weeks time – Friday 9 July 2010.

Alison Macpherson, UK Sport’s Ideas4Innovation Coordinator, said: “We are working to get new ideas into British elite sport from those outside the traditional sporting environment, to improve our knowledge base, and ultimately athletes’ performances in 2012.

“The aim is to engage with students, experts and creative thinkers within the British public in order to harness cutting edge ideas and concepts that are pertinent to answering sporting questions. With the margins between success and failure ever narrowing, we believe this could really make an impact on British performances in London in 2012.

“We’re hoping graduates or experts in science, medicine, engineering and technology will contact us with either an existing research project or a new proposal that could enhance performances in elite sport, so that we can invest in them to take the idea further and hopefully see it come to fruition in 2012.”

Chris West

Chris West, a Sport Science graduate from Brunel University in London, was the inaugural winner of the Ideas4Innovation Award in 2008, for his idea for a performance enhancing device to be used by wheelchair-based athletes. Since his project was awarded the £25,000 research grant, he has worked with Britain’s elite Paralympic sports and athletes to realise his idea and has also begun to study for his PhD in Physiology at Brunel. This week, Chris is speaking about his project at the English Institute of Sport’s Disability Sport workshops being held in conjunction with the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester.

He said: “Since I won the Ideas4Innovation Award, I have completed an initial study to test the concept of my training aid, with some very exciting and encouraging results. I am now in the process of a follow up study to determine the effect of the training aid on specific markers of athletic performance.

“Winning the Award has given me the financial assistance from UK Sport but also access to their network of experts. This has allowed me to work with a wide range of Paralympic athletes from different sports, who all have the potential to benefit from my device. I plan to continue working closely with UK Sport to further develop my idea, which will hopefully boost the chances of British Paralympians winning medals in London in 2012. The Olympic and Paralympic Games are drawing closer and the opportunity to be part of it is a truly rewarding experience.”

UK Sport’s ‘Ideas4Innovation’ project has been granted the Inspire Mark, the badge of the London 2012 Inspire programme. The London 2012 Inspire programme recognises innovative and exceptional projects that are directly inspired by the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Macpherson continued: “Imagine how amazing it would be to see your idea realized at the London Olympic or Paralympic Games. Athletes use equipment to perform, rely on their bodies to perform and train to perform; so get your thinking caps on and if you can apply your knowledge or existing research to improve an athlete’s performance based on any of these factors, you could directly contribute to a medal winning performance for Great Britain in 2012.”

Take a look at our Ideas4Innovation video.
Download an Ideas4Innovation application form and terms and conditions.

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