Three Irish sports tech companies were selected earlier this year to collaborate with the IRFU at an early stage of their product development.
It has given the companies access to an elite sports organisation to trial and test their products, and in turn the IRFU gets access to early-stage technology that could prove to be a game changer.
Keith Brock, Senior Development Adviser with Enterprise Ireland, said the IRFU was looking at ways to improve their digital transformation of the game with a strong focus on fan engagement, player performance, digital ticketing, data analytics, while Enterprise Ireland was looking for an opportunity to showcase its client's technology.
"Given the fact that the IRFU is a world leader in sport and we've got some of the top pioneers in innovation, revolutionising how athletes and teams perform, I thought it was a match made in heaven," he said.
RugbySmarts is one of the companies working with the IRFU. Founder Yvonne Comer, who is a former Ireland international, said RugbySmarts is an interactive coaching platform that automatically tags any events that happen in matches allowing coaches focus on performance improvement.
"They can use it as a communication tool as well to talk directly to their players on what's happening in matches, and they can use it to produce social media highlights with sponsors branding so they can generate revenue.
"But the really exciting thing about it is it's AI driven so it's self learning, so the more you use it the better it becomes," she said.
The technology is trialled by teams in Ireland, France and North America. "What we're trying to do is bring that professional level of analytics to the grassroots game," Ms Comer said.
MoveAhead – a motion tracking and movement analytics engine, and Brace - a social injury rehabilitation platform are the two other high potential start-ups taking part in the programme.
