INDESCAT presented a total of five projects, which bring together 12 companies and entities - in addition to the cluster itself - to the call for aid for innovation of this 2018 from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism (MINCOTUR). All have received a grant, with a total value of € 325,773.
The five projects subsidized by MINCOTUR are as diverse as the sector. INDESCAT, the cluster of the sports industry, advised and accompanied participating companies and entities in the preparation and drafting of proposals and submitted funding requests to the call for grants to Innovative Business Groupings 2018 of the Ministry. The final result has been the granting of more than 325,000 euros to the sum of all the projects, which require a total investment of € 516,296.
The project xPizz, led by the company Kaptiva Sports with the support of Hippo Products and INDESCAT aims to merge the physical and digital world through an App to launch a new concept of gincanaurbana. On the one hand, it aims to promote physical activity among young people and adolescents; on the other, it approaches e-sports, on the rise among this type of public, since several teams will be able to compete with each other.
The HSSPORT also wants to promote physical and sports activity. It is a feasibility study to make a wearable and a platform from which to promote healthy habits (sports and nutrition) among primary school children and their families, with the active support of schools. The project is led by the INEFC and the UB, together with the company Ebantic and INDESCAT.
In the field of research, the Sweatsens project is working on the development of smart patches that detect the levels of sweating of sports practitioners in real time and with wireless technology, in order to prevent possible injuries or medical emergencies and to help improve the performance. Sweatsens is based on a patent from the Rovira i Virgili University and uses new technologies such as nanomaterial inks to act as intelligent sensors, flexible electronic devices, etc. The project is led by the startup Kamleon, together with the URV Foundation, the company Perspectiva and INDESCAT.
As a result of the success of the feasibility study DEFRAIL, developed with the support of the Ministry's aid to the AEI in 2017, this year the same team (the Joan Costa Roma Foundation - of the Terrassa Health Consortium-, Esport-3 Serveis Alternatiu , the Eurecat Foundation and INDESCAT) has presented the TeleDefrail proposal. This is the development of a device and an app for remote sensing of the prefragilitat among the elderly, which will include a series of physical activity parameters, among other results obtained from the aforementioned study.
Finally, Skiwearable II, continuation of the Skiwearable project funded in 2017 with the same grants, wants to go beyond the bracelet developed last year. The device measures the activity of skiers once they access the station, focusing on gamification and the treatment of big dates by ski resorts based on skiers' activity, and aims to promote competition and make the practice of skiing more attractive to everyone. Skitude Technologies and the Eurecat Foundation, together with INDESCAT, are again the main partners of the project.
Nine of the 12 companies and entities that have submitted projects are members of the sports industry cluster.
Projects financed in 2017
In 2017, MINCOTUR chose to subsidize three projects presented through INDESCAT. Five members of the cluster participated (Fundación Joan Costa Roma -of the Terrassa Health Consortium-, Esport-3 Serveis Alternatius, the Eurecat Foundation, Skitude and Spinntech), and a non-member company (Appser, which belongs to another AEI). In total, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism contributed € 276,000 to develop the DEFRAIL, SKIWEARABLE and SMARTVIEW projects.