Leaders in the sports industry and sporting academics were assembled at the San Francisco 49ers Levi’s Stadium to discuss innovation, research and the future of sport as part of FC Barcelona’s Barca Innovation Hub (BIHub).
During the Spanish soccer side’s US tour, a meeting was arranged by the BIHub to bring together big names, institutions and specialists to talk at two roundtable discussions, the first about implementing innovation in sports and the second about the future and what role sport will have in it.
“The Barca Innovation Hub is the platform that brings together all of the research, innovation and training projects at FC Barcelona. The club wants to be the backbone and main proponent of the knowledge industry in the sports sector in Europe and the world. It aspires to convert Barcelona into the Silicon Valley of the sports industry and the BIHub into the world’s number one knowledge and innovation center, promoting an open and collaborative culture,” the club said in a statement.
FC Barcelona’s first vice chairman Jordi Cardoner introduced the event and participants included Brano Perkovich, chief investment officer of the San Francisco 49ers; George Foster, director of sports management initiative at Stanford University; Henry Chesbrough, director of the Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation Berkley-Haas; and several heads from the BIHub itself.
Those attending the event were provided a tour of the Levi’s Stadium facility, which is renowned for its eco initiatives and technology innovations including a rooftop garden that grows vegetables and herbs used in the kitchens in the stadium’s restaurants.
August 9, 2018
