ŽALGIRIS INNOVATION STUDIO invites sports-tech entrepreneurs to join forces with a professional sports club 0

Zalgiris has been actively seeking synergy between sports and innovation starting back in 2019. The first step of it all was organizing the international sports technology hackathon together with innovation partner Katalista Ventures. The two-day event proved that partnership between innovators and professional sports clubs can create a lot of value.

“We have a name that is well-known in the market, a huge community of supporters and proffesionals in our management. All this allows us to work hand in hand with organizations and science institutions that create innovation technology in Lithuania and Europe as a whole. This kind of partnership opens doors for us to try the newest technologies not only theoretically, but also empirically. The involvement of the direct user to creative processes helps us avoid situations when the created technology doesn’t provide any additional value, if its’ implementation is impossible or relevant to the user. Zalgiris innovation studio was created having seen the opportunities the partnership between a sports organization and innovative technology creators opens up,” – noted Zalgiris’ Business Development Officer Une Marija Jurkstaite, who leads the club’s innovation projects.

The Zalgiris innovation studio was formed seeking to bring together startups and technology companies who create innovative solutions, develop and test those solutions that could be useful to all stakeholders. The studio will target for innovations in three main sectors: maximizing sports results and improving injury prevention with the help of technologies; increasing fan engagement to the team’s activities and improving their experience when using the services provided by the club; providing new opportunities for the basketball club’s business partners. The innovation partner Katalista Ventures helps create an effective synergy between the club and the innovators, shares the good practices of startups and connects with the suitable specialists of various fields, that are required to develop and enhance the innovative solutions being created.

“At this moment, we’ve already begun working alongside several startups and we hope to expand the studio’s portfolio with even more innovation creators in the future. We want to show that innovation and sports can go hand in hand, thus we’re looking for technology creators who look to implement their solutions in the sports industry,” – highlighted Zalgiris director Paulius Motiejunas.