Reimagining

Sports participation

Focus on the topic of environmental sustainability has been growing rapidly in the world of sports. We are increasingly becoming aware of the impact the world of sport has on the environment and vice versa. Athletes, teams, clubs, federations, businesses and academia are all in some way part of the global tendency to become more sustainable. Sports managers of tomorrow will be confronted with a rapidly changing natural environment in which their work takes place. They need to be able to reimagine sports from the bidirectional relation between sports and the planet on which it takes place.<br>Given this situation we ask the question how we can reimagine sport sustainably. This challenges us both conceptually (how can we understand the problem? Which words and models are suitable to describe what we desire?) and practically (how can we change our behavior and organizations?). We approach the world of sports through the lens of sports ecology to be able to focus on the bidirectional relation between the world of sports and the environment. This gives the possibility to reimagine sports sustainably in both conservative and transformative ways.

Key Insights

  • There are five types of sport innovation: social, technological, commercial, community-based and organizational.
  • Technological innovation is the most common in sports performance and participation.
  • Some sports-focused countries invest up to €xx per year on driving innovation in sports.
  • The vast development in innovation poses great challenges for current and future sport managers.

Innovation topology

Sport innovation is defined as proactive and intentional processes that involve the generation and practical adoption of new and creative ideas, which aim to produce a qualitative change in a sport context and is dynamic.

Social Innovation

Social innovation is a process when sport organizations, groups or individuals encounter social issues that requires new and creative solutions. These are often complex and time consuming.

Technological innovation

Technological innovation occurs through advances in technology, related to performance enhancement, sport medicine, improvements in monitoring athletes, rehabilitation and evolving sporting equipment.

Commercial Innovation

Commercial innovation appears when business are involved in creating change in sport. This can be product or process-based innovations and are often related to marketing.

Community-based innovation

Community-based innovation involves social responsibility and entrepreneurship in which individuals and sport organizations partner with local community groups to encourage working to a common goal, often related to socials issues and social sport innovations.

Organization innovation

Organizational innovation occurs when sports organization and government institutions pursue projects of institutional change.

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