High-tech sports wearable market business, PlayerData, has announced a partnership with the Homeless World Cup Foundation which will see its latest tech deployed at the tournament this November.

Mexico City will host the 16th annual football tournament and will welcome more than 500 players from over 40 countries. In excess of 200,000 spectators are expected to attend the tournament, with millions more predicted to watch the event online.

Mel Young, co-founder of the Homeless World Cup Foundation said: “We are really excited to be partnering with PlayerData. Their tech will offer our teams and fans an insight into teams’ performances like never before and I believe that this is the first of many exciting collaborations with them. We look forward to seeing the devices in action.”

PlayerData

PlayerData’s latest tracking system, ‘PlayerData EDGE’, will be attached to every player contesting at the tournament and will relay data wirelessly to a base station that will update the tournament’s website in real time. The data gathered by EDGE will provide the coaching staff with valuable player insights.

PlayerData was co-founded in 2015 by former University of Edinburgh computer science graduates Roy Hotrabhvanon (CEO) and Hayden Ball (CTO).

The product is currently in its final beta testing phase and provides detailed biometric data, performance, and technique insights on an individual and team level. Long-term, PlayerData aims to target sports including football, cycling and golf.

In addition to sports, the company aims to move into other industry sectors such as gaming and healthcare.

Hotrabhvanon commented: “We’ve got big plans to make a real impact in wearable tech, in sports to begin with but we’re already examining other markets.

“It’s an exciting time for the team and our investors and as we close in on the end of beta testing with paying clients, and it’s an honour and privilege to be partnering with such a well-respected global tournament as the Homeless World Cup.”

The CEO, co-founder and former international archer won Young Innovator of the Year at Scottish Business Insider’s Made in Scotland Awards in April.

Smart Wearables

Industry research predicts that the smart wearables market will grow in value to over $15 billion by 2021. The number of wearable devices in the UK is also expected to grow to over 14 million units by 2020.

Gartner research has also forecast growth of almost 50% in the global wearable electronic devices market between 2015 and 2017.

According to Hotrabhvanon, the smart wearables market is “awash with products that promise hundreds of unique metrics”, however, this regularly bombards coaches and users with data, most of which he said is a distraction.

“We have engineered our product to have a simple, clean interface that shows the couch what they want to see when they want to see it,” he said. “We also plan on leveraging the power of artificial intelligence on delivering added insights on top of it.”

PlayerData received early-stage support from the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Innovation and Scottish Enterprise.