Sports technology company, SportScientia, has unveiled a new first-of-its-kind wireless smart insole designed to significantly enhance the performance of football players, with support from the part funded LCR 4.0 business support programme.
SportScientia, a top 50 global innovation company based in the UK and Singapore, specialises in the collection and interpretation of dynamic biometric performance data from proprietary wearable sports technology.
The company approached LCR 4.0 – which is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) – and delivery partner Sensor City, for support in developing an accurate set of ‘3P smart insole’ prototypes that monitor the movement and loading distribution of athletes to predict and prevent injury.
The collaboration saw SportScientia take up hot desking space at Sensor City, as well as gain access to its specialist equipment and technical expertise, including the multi-material 3D printers. This enabled the company to design, fabricate, and 3D print a range of insoles which significantly reduced time to market and minimised costs.
The wireless 3P smart insole, which is the first of its kind to be commercially available, collects real-time data tolearn a player’s constant baseline by analysing their training load distribution, recovery, and performance. This data is then used by the player, the coach and the physiotherapist to live monitor, predict and prevent injuries from grassroots all the way up to elite professional level.
For youth footballers, the insole gives the chance to fulfil their potential by monitoring progress from a young age, meaning statistics and performances can be logged, and career threatening muscular injuries can be avoided.
Peter Lazou, founding partner of SportScientia, said: “Our aim at SportScientia is to use advanced technology to create products that provide a better understanding of sports performance and to reduce the risk of injury. The LCR 4.0 programme and Sensor City team have given us the resource to make this possible and brought us one step closer to becoming a more recognisable brand name globally.
“We were given access to the mechanical and electronics labs we needed to re-engineer our initial model, meaning we now have a set of accurate prototypes that we can test before proceeding to the full manufacturing process.”
Alison Mitchell, executive director at Sensor City said: “Industry 4.0 technologies, like 3D printers, have so much potential and it’s brilliant to see companies like SportScientia approaching Sensor City and the LCR 4.0 Project for its technical expertise and specialist equipment.
“This is a perfect example of how industry 4.0 technologies are transforming all walks of life, and the sports industry is no different.”
Taking the innovative product even further, SportScientia is now collaborating with Liverpool John Moores University’s Sports Science department and local football teams to trial the prototypes.
About LCR 4.0
LCR 4.0 is a part of the Liverpool City Region Local Growth Hub.
The first of its kind in the country, LCR 4.0 (Liverpool City Region Four Point Zero) is a leading business support programme for manufacturers wanting to take advantage of the opportunities of the 4th industrial revolution.
LCR4.0 is delivered in partnership by the University of Liverpool’s Virtual Engineering Centre (VEC), Liverpool John Moores University (specifically ETRI, the Faculty of Engineering and Technology Research Institute), Sensor City,STFC Hartree Centre (part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council) and the Liverpool City Region LEP(Local Enterprise Partnership).
LCR4.0 is part of the Liverpool City Region Local Growth Hub which aims to provide a joined up approach to local and national business support by actively engaging SMEs and growth businesses across the six local authority areas, to discover the right advice and support they need to grow.
