Olympic innovations

26th Feb 2010 A passion and truth by Tom

Photo by Google Street View

Other than war, there’s nothing like a major sporting event to hasten the pace of innovation. We’ve already blogged about the impact 3D TV is set to have on this summer’s World Cup but what can the current Olympic Winter Games in Canada tell us about what we can look forward to for our own Games in 2012?

In my view, Vancouver 2010 will be remembered not just for the lack of snow and our first individual gold medal since 1981, but also as the Games where mobile apps and interactive online content played a significant role in giving spectators more ways to keep up-to-date and experience the action than ever before in the Games’ 3000 year history.

For iPhone users in Vancouver, the Games’ official app lets users create a personalised itinerary with maps to over 80 venues and details of over 2000 sports and cultural events taking place during the Games. The free app also has real-time results for sport and news headlines, photos and Twitter streams, allowing users to converse with others about the Games and their experiences. The really smart bit is that the apps uses geo-technology to pin-point the whereabouts of the user and tell them ‘what’s on now’ close to their current location.

For those not able to be there in person, Google has really pushed the boat out for Vancouver, creating not only a dedicated microsite to make information about the Games ‘accessible and useful’, but also rigging up a snowmobile with its Street View kit to record unprecedented views of the courses and facilities.

The website gives live updates of upcoming events, as well as the latest medal tables and news from the Games. Naturally, it is linked up to key social media sites, using Twitter searches to keep users up-to-date on what people are saying, and YouTube to share video content.

But perhaps the most interesting aspect of the site however is the Street View option, which virtually takes you from your armchair and out onto the slopes. Google’s customised snowmobile, equipped with the latest GPS and photographic technology, has taken slope-level pictures to create an extensive database of the various Games locations, allowing users to see exactly where the action is happening and get an extra feel for the actual courses on which the athletes will go to battle. The tool allows you to search out specific sports, whisking you off to the exact location of that competition.

For any Winter Olympics fan, it’s a must see thing.

And on the environmental front, the Vancouver 2010 is already being hailed as the greenest ever thanks to innovations of a different kind. With part-recycled medals, revolutionary green buildings and an Olympic village that will converted into houses post-games, the organisers haven’t been short of ideas when it comes to creating an eco-friendly games.

Sponsoring companies have been getting in on the act as well. Coca-Cola has asked its staff to don uniforms made of recycled bottles (each uniform uses up 120 old bottles!) as part of its initiative to create its first-ever zero-waste, carbon-neutral sponsorship since it began sponsoring the Olympic Movement in 1928. Other initiatives include the use of sustainable packaging, the collection of all plastic containers used throughout the venues, the use of HFC-free coolers and a fleet of hybrid carts and vehicles.

Coca-Cola is already planning a similar approach for London 2012. Whilst it still seems an age away, especially as we progress slowly through a freezing winter, planning for the London Olympics is well under way in partner companies, and it offers the chance for a wide range of industries to benefit from this unique opportunity.

Who knows what the technology will be like by then, but one thing is for sure, the initiatives above will be standard, if not surpassed by then. Could we be seeing Street View being utilised once more, perhaps this time linked to computer games that give an ‘authentic’ Olympic experience, similar to the current Tokyo-Jogging game?

With the focus of the world upon us, it will be an exciting time for British businesses, so what’s your business planning for 2012?

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