THE SPOT, 28 and 29 May 2019, Lausanne Information for the media

The second edition of THE SPOT, ThinkSport’s thrilling sport and innovation event, will take place

from 28 to 29 May 2019 at the SwissTech Convention Center in Lausanne, Switzerland. After the

successful, sold-out inaugural edition last year, the event once again will bring together plenty of

talent, original ideas and fresh solutions from both inside and outside the sports industry.

Media representatives are invited to save the date and register free of charge here.

What to expect from THE SPOT

In an open space with a dynamic atmosphere, THE SPOT will expose participants to a wide range

of content and experiences all happening at the same time:

/ at the Marketplace and the Demo Zone, participants will be able to present and

discover new products and solutions with changing stands every day;

/ a conference and workshops in untraditional formats will connect delegates with

pioneers in innovation and generate unique conversations;

/ about 80 young companies will go toe-to-toe in a two-day start-up battle in front of

investors; and

/ numerous networking opportunities will make THE SPOT the birthplace of new crosssector partnerships and projects.

Conference topics

This year’s conference topics are:

/ Athletes: Expanding the physical and psychological potential of the human athlete;

/ Industry: Driving the creation and development of new materials, products & business

models;

/ Society: The social impact of sports innovation and evolving lifestyles

/ Entertainment: The revolution(s) in sports entertainment and fan engagement

Confirmed speakers

With less than four months to go to THE SPOT, ThinkSport has already revealed the following

speakers:

/ Kim Blair, senior manager at Exponent, Inc. and former MIT Sports Innovation

Programme founder

/ Lucien Boyer, chief marketing officer at Vivendi and chairman of the Global Sports Week

Paris;

/ Dr. Caecilia Charbonnier, founder of and president and research director at Artanim;

/ Motasem El Bawab, manager digital products and operations at FIBA.

/ Benjamin Penkert, founder of SportsTechX & head of consulting at leAD Sports;

/ Anna Rozwandowicz, co-founder of The Story Mob;

/ Ian Smith, integrity commissioner at Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC); and

/ Mounir Zok, co-founder and managing director at N3XT Sports.

ThinkSport is happy to facilitate interviews with organisers, speakers and exhibitors before and

during the event.

Facts and Figures from the first edition

A sold-out crowd of 700 delegates from over 25 countries and 350 organisations and companies

attended the first edition of THE SPOT. Visitors included over 100 employees from International

Sport Federations and the International Olympic Committee, more than 45 start-ups and over 50

international speakers. The Market Place and Demo Zone featured over 40 start-ups and 15

corporate stands.

Click here to check out news, press releases, videos and more published on last year’s inaugural

edition of THE SPOT.

Organisers

The international event is being organised jointly by ThinkSport, the Swiss Tech Convention

Center, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), the University of Lausanne

(UNIL) and the Canton of Vaud.

About ThinkSport

ThinkSport is the first network that brings together the variety of sports-related expertise and

excellence in Lausanne, the canton of Vaud, across Switzerland and beyond: from sport

organisations, research and development institutes, educational bodies, businesses, health

institutions, and the public sector, to international organisations and NGOs.

ThinkSport’s aim is to facilitate new partnerships, knowledge sharing, creative thinking and

innovative projects, and in doing so, drive progress in sport. The ambition is to transform

business silos into hubs of collaboration.

The name ThinkSport aligns with the colloquial 'think-tank', and reflects the spirit of this network,

highlighting ‘sport’ as the key building block of collaboration – the tie that brings all of the

different sectors together. THE SPOT is ThinkSport’s flagship event.

Visit www.thespot2019.org and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to stay tuned and receive updates.

As a service to our readers, Around the Rings will provide verbatim texts of selected press releases issued by Olympic-related organizations, federations, businesses and sponsors.

These press releases appear to be around the rings and are not edited for spelling, grammar or punctuation.