Through the Technova Barcelona Innovation Park, La Salle Campus Barcelona-URL is collaborating with the City Start-up Challenge, a 5-day accelerator launched by Manchester City Football Club aimed at finding solutions to transform the football industry by bringing new ideas to modern-day challenges. The start-ups selected will take part in a week of work in Manchester, from 24 to 28 June, where they will collaborate with City Football Group to develop a project that will allow them to apply their solution to the group.
More specifically, the challenge to be tackled by the accelerator is to think about the stadium solutions of the future, in terms of working towards a sustainable stadium, improving, for example, energy efficiency, how to make the stadium more accessible, how to foster engagement with fans, inside and outside the stadium, how to offer fans a personalised experience and how to create a global stadium where everything and everyone is connected.
Start-ups have until 31 March to submit their application at https://www.cityfootballgroup.com/. Candidates will be assessed and the first selections will be announced on 15 April. After a second phase of deliberation, the finalists who have been chosen to travel to Manchester in June will be announced on 6 May. Representatives from La Salle-URL will take part in selecting the start-ups chosen, as well as mentoring and tutoring the start-ups while the accelerator is held. In addition, students from La Salle-URL’s degree in business management specialising in sports management will also collaborate with organisation of the event. “It’s an opportunity for us to be at the forefront of innovation and technological development in football with one of the most important sporting brands in the industry”, says Chris Kennett, Director and Professor of the Minor in Sports Management of the La Salle-URL Degree in Management of Business and Technology.
Across 5 days in June, various meetings will be held so that the start-ups can gain a deeper understanding of the football industry's needs, and they will have to put forward a pilot plan for application to present on the final day. Winning teams will receive funding to pilot their solution with City Football Group, and if successful, could be included in the Sapphire Sport Fund.