As the preparations ramp up for the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai this week, the event stands as another reminder of how far the Middle East has come as a sports host and how much further technology can take it. The region has built the infrastructure and expertise to deliver global competition of the highest quality and has established itself as a premier destination for international sporting events. The next frontier is using digital innovation not just to host world-class sport, but to enhance participation, improve performance, and strengthen the systems that power it across the region.
Technology is already instrumental in helping Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar realise their different sporting objectives. But how much more could it achieve? To what extent could digital platforms and mobile technologies accelerate progress across each nation’s strategic sports pillars?
Health, Fitness & Mass Participation
Greater data integration to provide more complete, personalised service. Apps like SFA and Abu Dhabi 360 already connect personal information and preferences with motion tracking data but by integrating data feeds from other related organisations like schools and medical facilities, these health apps could create a more comprehensive picture of each members’ wellbeing and provide more personalised content.
Greater functionality to boost community building. The same apps do incorporate some community elements, but there is an opportunity to make them more of a central hub for community sports initiatives like local football teams or running clubs, allowing them to log scores and share event content. The data collected could then be fed back into the app and each individual’s personal profile.
TEC Take
By expanding the functionality of these health focused platforms, there is an opportunity for the nations to create more reasons for use and with it, greater adoption from their people. By making the apps more of a community sports hub, with more content and perhaps combining more rewards / promotions from community sponsors they could serve as sports membership platforms that are used by citizens more often. From working with major sports rights holders like The R&A and European Athletics, we are experienced in designing digital membership platforms that combine features like exclusive content, event access and rewards programmes and have seen first-hand the impact on user adoption such additions can have.
Sports venues, infrastructure & events
Leverage innovation to improve experience. In terms of smart sports venues, many of the benefits are tied to future innovations. Developments with digital ticketing and smart venue technologies have shown the way, in terms of how access and in-venue experience can be improved, but they have also signposted that further improvements can be made. For example, as facial recognition, AI and sensor technology improve, more venues will be able to deliver the seamless access and retail opportunities that we are starting to see in some US sports arenas.
Centralise event processes. From an organisational perspective, benefits could be derived from centralising logistical processes such as accreditation and volunteering at a national level instead of just by venue or event. Apps could be created to manage event support and better allocate resources.
TEC Take
Venues and event organisers could also explore how they can co-ordinate and meet the needs of the different stakeholder groups attending, creating a seamless event experience for key attendees from the moment they receive their ticket to the moment they return home. TEC built a bespoke stakeholder management app to do just this for a leading global sport tournament. The app enabled the organising federation to manage all aspects of their VIPs attendance from ticketing and accommodation, to and transport and venue access, all in one easy to access, branded portal.
Elite Performance & Talent Development
Greater data integration and sharing. We’ve seen how sports bodies across the three nations have sought to build centralised data platforms to enhance their ability to identify and improve the talent at their disposal, by using AI to process huge volumes of data feeds around athlete performance. This is undoubtedly the right approach and, with the right consensus and privacy protocols in place, further gains could be made in maximising athlete potential by integrating data feeds from clubs, federations and even individual training programmes and sharing findings across sports to understand where gains in performance and injury recovery are being made.
Improving governance & professionalism in domestic sport
AI efficiencies. The same digital platforms built to improve federations’ understanding of their athletes’ performance are also being used to power greater administrative efficiencies and improve the professionalisation of sport across the Middle East. From resource management to revenue generation, there are a range of AI-powered platforms that could be employed to make sports bodies more efficient in their efforts to grow the industry.
Embrace collaboration. Domestic leagues like the SPL and the QSL have chosen to partner with leading global technology and media businesses to modernise areas such as competition management and content distribution. By continuing this collaborative approach, both with technology providers and international leagues & federations, the leagues could work with innovators in fields such as AI, broadcasting, membership and merchandising, in order to create more personalised, immersive experiences that modern fans crave opening up new markets and new revenue opportunities.
Invest in innovation. Initiatives like the QST Accelerator exist to promote the role of domestic technology businesses in achieving regional sports objectives and digital platforms, similar to Stryde and Connectd, could be built to showcase the innovative potential across the Gulf and connect start-ups with potential investors.
The latest TEC whitepaper delves into the role technology has played in establishing leading nations hosting credibility and the areas in could drive further improvements in line with national sporting directives.
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