As predicted, SMG Technologies Start-up Tackling Elite Sports Injuries
Originally posted in The Australian by Krishan Sharma.
For Australian start-up SMG Technologies, elite sports has proved a perfect testing ground for its predictive analytics platform SportsMed, adopted by some of the biggest teams and athletes in the world, from West Ham United FC in the Premier League to Super Rugby’s Queensland Reds.
SportsMed’s data-driven engine uses cutting-edge sports science methods to pre-empt injuries in individual athletes by number-crunching various aspects of a player’s health from training and performance data to nutrition, sleep patterns and even mental health.
According to SMG, the platform can pull data from 23 manual inputs (some entered by the players via a smartphone app) and more than 170 wearables and sensors that the software then processes to provide insights into the player’s future performance.
According to SMG founder and chief executive Zane Hall, the platform covers all aspects of performance management from coaching, performance analysis and reporting to sports science and rehabilitation. “For example, if a player complains of hamstring soreness the relevant department will get an alert before that player pulls a hamstring; the individual’s training program will be updated accordingly while the physiotherapist might decide to bench or rest him. Those are the intelligent or really quick requirements that the system can provide.”
He added that the software could handle more complicated variables such as determining how the combination of dietary requirements, sleep patterns, oxygen intake post-exercise and slight tear of a particular muscle could affect an athlete’s recovery rate in a warm climate during pre-season training.
The software was developed by a New Zealand company specialising in insurance claims for the purpose of assessing a player’s injury and associated rehabilitation costs.
Mr Hall acquired the software and set up shop in Brisbane in 2012. His three-man staff began redeveloping the software by broadening its scope and incorporating the predictive analytics engine. “I went out to the UK for a couple of years and I spent a lot of time with English Premier League clubs such as Chelsea, Portsmouth and Tottenham Hotspur to figure out what would be the best solution for elite teams. I then brought those lessons back to Brisbane.”
The company employs more than 30 staff and has branches in Britain and the US. “We have some of the leading voices in sports science, psychology and dietary medicine working for SMG,” Mr Hall said.
While there are a few competitors within the space such as Smarter Base, SMG claims none offer the level of customisation and ease of use SportsMed provides.
The flexible nature of the platform has allowed SMG to tackle other industries outside sport, such as corporate wellness and community health, financial services, retail, public services and the military.
“They range from healthcare private and public, private insurance, fly-in, fly-out, large corporates and retailers, resellers and governing groups locally and internationally,” Mr Hall said.
Head of innovations at SMG Vered Netzer said its analytics engine could be used for, say, predictive commerce in the retail sector.
“Our platform collects and aggregates data from hundreds of sources to identify when and where consumers might be most open to considering a purchase,” she said. “Retailers can use this information to provide contextual marketing and nudge consumers into making purchases.”
