Innovation and performance in sport

The debate about technology in sport seems to be rearing its head again following some controversial incidents at the World Cup. Here are a few loose thoughts on the relationship between innovation, performance and the 'business' of sport.

Innovation in Sport

· Performance improvement is a fundamental feature of both sport and business
· Innovation is key to performance improvement – doing things differently and better, challenging conventions, applying technology, changing business models
· Innovation is normally regarded as a good thing

· However, recent examples in sport and business suggest that innovation is not always good:
- e.g., ‘go faster’ suits at the world swimming championships,
- e.g., global banking crisis caused by innovation in financial products
· Incidents of controversial innovation in sport seem to be happening more frequently – driven by increasing technological and market intensity
- e.g., F1 car innovation; ‘blade runner’ Oscar Pistorius;
· Problems arise when innovation outpaces regulation – in ‘rules or tools’ of the game, in sports or markets

· Yet at the same time changes to rules and tools are used by regulators and governing bodies as instruments to meet their strategic and commercial objectives such as raising participation levels, TV revenues or winning gold medals:
- e.g., the 20/20 cricket format
- e.g., ‘hawk eye’ ball tracking in tennis
- e.g., the investment in equipment innovation by Sport England and Sports Institutes in Scotland and Australia
- e.g., the development of ‘competitive’ regulatory regimes in financial services
· There seems to be a double standard – innovation introduced by the regulator is okay but not when it is a ‘surprise’
· Naturally this is a source of dispute and a potential PR disaster waiting to happen

· Ethical and philosophical questions are also raised by innovation in sport and business:
· When is equipment innovation sporting and when is it cheating?
· Is a performance improvement and ‘win at all costs’ culture good for a company? Is it good for a market system and society? (Post-banking crisis, do we aspire to a different kind of market system – more egalitarian and Nordic?)
· What policies should a company have on performance enhancement, e.g., employees using legal drugs to help them work longer hours?
· Does permitting advanced equipment innovation in sport make is socially exclusive and therefore undesirable?

· These are difficult issues for governing bodies
· Often they are in a ‘no win’ position – criticised for being either too conservative or too radical or simply indecisive
· They need to get in control of the situation and demonstrate leadership