BIHUB hosts new edition of Barça Sports Tech Week

With the aim of building a community around technological innovation on sport and offering an outlet for the latest research in the fields of training methodologies and data analysis, the Barça Innovation Hub is hosting, from November 12 to 15 in the Auditori 1899, the Barça Sports Tech Week, which will bring together more than 1,500 experts in these areas from all over the world.

The first of the congresses will be on Tuesday 12 in the form of the second edition of the Barça Football Coach Summit, involving staff from clubs all around the world in discussions of ways to change game dynamics through new methodologies, training methods and data usage. FC Barcelona will be represented by Isaac Guerrero, its head of Methodology; Lluís Cortés, coach of the women's football team and Franc Artiga, coach of the U19A team. The various panels will also feature Juan Carlos Unzué, former FC Barcelona goalkeeper and now a football coach; Emma Hayes, coach of the Chelsea women's team; and Jagoba Arrasate, coach of Osasuna.

Wednesday 13 will be the turn of the Barça Sports Analytics Summit, featuring discussions of statistical modelling and analysis of how data can help with tactics and dealing with the new challenges faced by the sports industry, such as data visualisation. FC Barcelona will be represented by its data scientist Sergio Llana, and international guests here to share their experiences include Dan Cervone, director of quantitative research at the Los Angeles Dodgers and Suds Gopaladesikan, head of information and data systems at Benfica.

Finally, on Thursday 14, Barça director Marta Plana, head of the Barça Innovation Hub, will open the fifth edition of the Barça Sports Technology Symposium, an event that is already considered a benchmark in the technology sector, and which will be discussing performance, data analysis and digital experiences in relation to sport from a broad perspective; encompassing different disciplines and taking into account collateral aspects such as management, fan interaction and social responsibility.

The two-day symposium will end on Friday 15 with, among many others, Charles Rohlf, the NBA's head of data control and statistics; Steve Palmer, head of data solutions for the Premier League; and Trip Hawkins, founder of EA Sports. The club will be involved in the different talks through Mariona Miret, head of the Barça Foundation's programs; Fernando Andrés, from the IT department; and Víctor Oliver, the club's venue business director.