ISPO. Get inside the customer’s head: A new ISPO COMMUNITY service based on consumer insights. In the future, users will help to identify industry trends by completing regular surveys. ISPO is working with Innolytics GmbH to make this a reality. The company specializes in conducting future market research and developing digital community platforms. As always, consumer experts will still be central to ISPO OPEN INNOVATION. There are currently all sorts of new projects under way, including world first “Clim8”: A shirt that regulates its own temperature, ensuring optimal comfort for the wearer.

ISPO’s digital services are constantly developing and, in the future, will incorporate consumer insights to a greater extent alongside our consumer experts. With this new ISPO COMMUNITY service, users should be able to help companies detect new trends in the industry by completing regular surveys. These consumer insights allow trends to be identified much faster than with traditional market research methods. ISPO have enlisted the experts at Innolytics GmbH to assist with this. The company specializes in conducting future market research and developing digital community platforms. The first project has already been completed using the platform, with market research being conducted on the demand and need for travel and outdoor equipment.

ISPO OPEN INNOVATION started out as a Messe München pilot project in December 2013, with the aim of directly involving customers in companies’ development processes. So-called “Consumer experts” have been testing and evaluating new products from manufacturers in the sports industry ever since. Users contribute their ideas to the development of new products, thereby helping to establish successful innovations to the industry market. Messe München’s has a large worldwide network, with around 40 trade fairs for capital and consumer goods and new technologies, including world leaders such as bauma and electronica from which the platform can benefit. This also means that diverse target groups can be consulted when carrying out projects within the sports industry.

The service is proving popular and has experienced growing demand: Further projects and studies are scheduled to start before the end of the year. “Our aim is to become the leading, neutral platform for developing and introducing new products and services in the sports industry,” says Tobias Gröber, Head of ISPO Group.

“Open innovation platforms like ISPO's are revolutionizing the relationship between company and customer.” adds Dr. Jens-Uwe Meyer, CEO of Innolytics GmbH. “This is a huge competitive advantage, particularly in these times of increasingly tough competition and digitization.”

From the world premier of an “intelligent shirt” to “smart tags,” which connect each sports product to the internet, right through to clever little aids for sports shoes, the new projects on ISPO OPEN INNOVATION offer a direct insight into the future of sports products. But that’s not all - it is also possible to carry out exclusive tests on all the products. Further information about the projects can be found here.
innovation.ispo.com/portal?lang=en

“Companies like Dachstein, Haglöfs, Kari Traa, Ternua, Toray and X-BIONIC have already taken advantage of the opportunity to work with us,” says Tobias Gröber, Head of ISPO Group. “We have been shown that by involving the customers in the development process there are clear advantages for companies. And recently we have been pleased to see that it is not only exhibitors using the service; but also a growing number of start-ups that are coming to us with interesting projects.”

ISPO PRESS INFORMATION
Munich, October 17, 2016