Sheffield Hallam University graduate wins Ideas4Innovation 2011
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The I4I judges at the McLaren Technology Centre
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UK Sport 27 September 2011
UK Sport is delighted to announce the winner of this year’s Ideas4Innovation competition. The winning idea was presented by John Kelley of Sheffield Hallam University, who applied for the award scheme via the Garage Innovators entry route.
The aim of UK Sport's Ideas4Innovation programme is to acknowledge and harness outstanding research and innovation concepts for elite sport, generated by the UK's research community, to support the mission to London 2012 and beyond. The Garage Innovators Award is open to any sports enthusiast with creative ideas and expertise that may have the potential to enhance the performance of British Olympic or Paralympic athletes.
Of 56 applications, John’s idea was one of eight that made the final stages and were chosen to present their ideas to an expert panel of judges at McLaren Applied Technologies’ research centre in Woking.
The idea, which will explore the potential for automated competition analysis in racing sports, will now benefit from an Ideasd4Innovation research funding award to help make it a reality, supported by access to UK Sport’s extensive network of innovation partners.
Head of Research and Innovation at UK Sport, Dr Scott Drawer, said: “The standard of applications this year surpassed our expectations, and there were several projects that were certainly worthy of our investment and could have made a real performance impact.
“John’s project stood out because of its potential to accelerate and automate current analysis processes for coach and athlete feedback. This will provide more time for interpretation, analysis and intervention around each athletes’ technical development.
Ideas4Innovation winner John Kelley said: “The idea for the project arose mid-way through 2010 as I was finishing my PhD. My department has strong links with several national governing bodies and the question arose as to whether it was possible to automate the analysis process which forms the backbone of the athletes performance. I thought that the techniques used in my PhD on developing a system to measure ball spin rates in match play tennis for the International Tennis Federation could be applied to racing sports.
“Throughout the following year I worked on another project, but if I had a spare moment I would try out this idea. This groundwork formed the basis of the Ideas4Innovation application.
“Winning the award not only provides funding for the project but also shows that UK Sport has belief in the project. The Ideas4Innovation scheme has allowed an idea from a PhD in a different sport to become a priority that has the potential to make an impact in other top Olympic sports.”
Those interested in applying for the 2012 Ideas4Innovation Award, where the search for performance gains for Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 will continue, should keep an eye on this website for more information coming soon.
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