Third Innovation Game of SportsInnovation 2022: blockchain, 5G technology and personalisation

11 May 2022 – While the U17 teams of Fortuna Düsseldorf and Bayer 04 Leverkusen met for the third Innovation Game of the day, experts on the SportsInnovation stage discussed prospects for the future of medialisation of sporting events, blockchain authentication and the advent of the latest mobile communication technologies at sports stadiums.

Moritz Mücke, head of Digital Innovations at the DFL, described the innovation ecosystem that the DFL has built up in recent years, which forms the basis for the development of new media offerings around sporting events. One example is the Interactive Feed, which the DFL is using to open up additional digital and personalised access to Bundesliga matches. It allows fans to set up customised coverage, setting preferences for how they would like to watch one match while simultaneously receiving alerts about other games taking place at the same time. In addition, fans can call up match-related information such as team line-ups, player data, rankings and records on their screens.

Mücke also discussed the potential offered by the use of 5G technology in sport. The latest generation of mobile communications exhibits very low latency and high bandwidth. In cooperation with Vodafone, the DFL has developed a stadium app for visualising data in real time. Meanwhile, the Sky Multiview app allows users in the stadium to access different camera angles and thereby view match highlights.

Needs-based connectivity for the virtual world

Also presenting on day one of SportsInnovation was tividoo, a German company that specialises in connectivity systems for a wide range of broadcast technologies. In a segment entitled Fan Experience Multiverse – Bring Your Fans Back Home, tividoo founder and managing director Tobias S. Gramm presented FNXP, a platform that brings together all content relevant to fans, including media, social media posts and merchandising, in a virtual space.

Use of blockchain technology to prevent product piracy

David Geisser, founder and CEO of Swiss company collectID, described his firm’s innovative product authentication system. The system combines blockchain and IoT technology to prevent product piracy. Using a blockchain as a decentralised database used by many participants together makes it possible for information to be transmitted in a way that is tamper-proof and stops copies from being made. High-quality products can be given entries in the blockchain, giving each a unique product identity. This verifies authenticity and ownership.