The sports industry continues to be a hotbed of patent innovation. Activity is driven by digital advancements, high-level of social media interactions, broad appeal for immersive sports experience, and fan engagement, as well as the growing importance of technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, blockchain, artificial intelligence, IoT, robotics, cloud, data analytics, wearable tech and many more. In the last three years alone, there have been over 6,000 patents filed and granted in the sports industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Innovation in sports: exercise gamification. Buy the report here.
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According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which uses over 46,000 patents to analyze innovation intensity for the sport industry, there are 15+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.
Exercise gamification is a key innovation area in sports
Exercise gamification allows users to play games during exercise through game-oriented fitness applications. Fitness products are gamified to enhance the fitness experience and help the user in reaching their desired goal.
GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 330+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established sports companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of exercise gamification.
Key players in exercise gamification – a disruptive innovation in the sports industry
‘Application diversity’ measures the number of applications identified for each patent. It broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.
‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of countries each patent is registered in. It reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.
Patent volumes related to exercise gamification
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
NIKE is the leading patent filer in exercise gamification in sports. Some other key patent filers include Apple, Peloton Interactive, Lululemon Athletica and Samsung Group. Exercise gamification is one of the accelerating innovation spheres of cloud-based technology, where adoption is steadily increasing.
In terms of application diversity, Whoop leads the pack. Lululemon Athletica and Pentland Group stand in second and third positions, respectively. By means of geographic reach, Lululemon Athletica holds the top position, followed by Fox Factory and NIKE.
The concept of fitness gamification is widely gaining acceptance as gamifying exercises positively influence more engagement. Fitness connected with rewards improves user motivation, bolsters mental health and virtual-based exercises can even benefit people with a variety of health conditions. Exercise gamifications include various app-based workouts, fitness equipment, exergaming consoles, and even corelated (non-digital) methods.
To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the sports industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Sports.
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GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.
GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.
