The 6th Conference of the International Sports Engineering Association, the Conference of Ideas!
The 6th Conference of the International Sports Engineering Association, the Conference of Ideas!
By Andrew Mcleod
Along with a number of colleagues from Cranfield University, I attended the 6th conference of the International Sports Engineering Association (ISEA) located in the Olympia Park in Munich and organised by SportKreativWerkstatt.
The conference is designed as a discussion place for latest developments and trends all around technologies in and for sports. There were over 100 delegates providing an interface between science, the sporting goods industry and sportsmen.
The conference was run over three parallel sessions, consisting of over 160 presentations in total; a gruelling schedule, especially in temperatures of approximately 31oC in the conference hall.
There were keynote speeches by Wolfgang Maier of the German Ski Association
- Demands from Sports for Innovation in Sports Engineering - and Berthold Krabbe of Adidas-Salomon AG - Product Innovation in the Sporting Goods Industry.
The detailed conference program with the overview of the three parallel sessions, the titles of the presentations and of the speakers can be found at http://www.sportkreativwerkstatt.de/isea2006/
The presentations were on themes such as:
- New materials like carbon fibre reinforced plastics or ultra light steel and applications for sports products
- Information and communication technologies and further computer applications for sports
- Contributions by sports enthusiasts for sports industries
- New equipment for Nordic walking, a new sporting technique
- Quality of life through custom fit products
- Strategy deployment of high tech companies entering the consumer sport electronic market
Although the majority of the presentations dealt with equipment and materials, sports surfaces were represented by Cranfield and Loughborough Universities. With the increase in research and funding for sports surfaces, both natural and artificial, it is hoped that the profile of our industry will be increased by exposure at various international conferences.
The delegates who attended the conference found it both useful and very interesting, but a lasting memory is left by the friendly inhabitants and the charming city of Munich.
More information about ISEA can be found at: www.sportsengineering.com