The European Tour and Tata Communications, a leading global digital infrastructure provider, launched the European Tour Innovation Hub with Tata Communications at the 2019 BMW PGA Championship in a mission to develop creative new solutions and concepts to enhance the game of golf.
The objective was to find an idea that could be developed commercially with support from the Tour’s business development team, venture capital (VC) firms and Tata Communications.
After hundreds of entries, three finalists were selected to come to London for a three-day workshop, culminating in a Dragons Den style pitch with their idea in front of a panel from the European Tour and Tata Communications.
Please note, the Immersion Week activity took place earlier this year before the current social distancing measures were introduced in the UK.
Here are the three teams and the concept they presented:
EyeCandyLab
Eyecandylab’s mobile augmented reality (AR) technology allows fans to enjoy live games with an interactive AR layer. By pointing their smartphone or tablet towards live action shown on TV, fans would be able to access stats, player profiles and 3D green layouts in an interactive and visually enhancing way. They could also engage with life-size holograms to bring the action from the course into their living room.
Alugha
Alugha’s idea would help overcome the complexities of managing multilingual video content for the European Tour’s diverse audiences worldwide. Alugha would create an interlocked toolkit for the complete multilingualisation process - from transcription over multi-audio-track voiceovers to video hosting and distribution. It is all about breaking through language barriers to enable more effective engagement with a global fan base.
Sparx
The idea is a consumer engagement platform for enhancing broadcast streams. It would allow for real-time audience engagement through on-screen polling, trivia, predictive gaming, sports wagering and data collection. The Sparx platform would integrate directly with the live broadcast graphics system to connect viewers to the action happening on screen, creating a two-way communication channel between the broadcaster and viewers.
The successful Innovation Hub concept will be announced in the coming weeks…
