Sevilla was the venue from September 20 to 21 of the European edition of the 2023 World Football Summit, one of the most important such events on football in the world. Some of the biggest names in the industry were there to discuss the latest development in terms of innovation, investment, sustainability and technology. Naturally, the Barça Innovation Hub was among those organisations represented, with its director Albert Mundet giving a session titled “Vision 2030: Sport technologies of the next decade”.
Mundet was joined by a penal made up of Luke Bornn, co-funder of Zelus Analytics; Carlo De Marchis, founder of Factory 63; Ricardo Santos, IT director for the Portuguese Football Federation, and Neel Rajani, manager of Portas Consulting.
Mundet focused on three core issues. One was the relentless democratisation of data associated to sport activity whereby clubs not only generate knowledge but also share it with and thus enrich the scientific community. He also covered the standardisation of technological formats and how that it creating unity in a sector that until recently was so highly fragmented in this regard. And finally, he discussed personalisation, both in terms of the provision of increasingly more accurate and real-time data to athletes, and in terms of fans, who are gaining so much more of a decision-making role in the way they choose to consume the sporting experience depending on their cultural background and tastes.
World Football Summit 2023 consisted of 35 sessions across the two days, with around 150 speakers from all around the world, and serves as a meeting point for clubs, federations, associations, major companies, startups and a host of other stakeholders in the football industry.