The sport events industry is at a pivotal moment where long-standing practices are being tested by rapid digital transformation. This shift raises important questions about how innovation should be applied, governed, and led Against this backdrop, IGNITX successfully concluded the third edition of its biannual IGNITX Summit, held under the theme “Technology at the Heart of Sport Events.”

Over two weekends and four virtual sessions, the Summit brought together more than 90 participants—including sports managers, technologists, and industry decision-makers from 37 countries across 5 continents —to explore practical, scalable solutions for the end-to-end event lifecycle in the modern era. While new and cutting-edge tools were explored, equal attention was given to the critical need for "future-ready" leadership and responsibility required to use technology as well.

Each session drew on first-hand experience from industry professionals. Speakers shared actionable insights on how technology can advance the industry and where it must proceed with greater care as technology accelerates.

In collaboration with the Global Sports Innovation Center (GSIC) powered by Microsoft, the Summit addressed and challenged one of the most persistent assumptions: that artificial intelligence (AI) will eventually replace human expertise.

Neha Monga, Security Solutions Strategy and Operations Leader from Microsoft Asia and Peggy Tng, GSIC APAC Regional Lead examined how AI is already reshaping productivity across sport events, showcasing applications that are using algorithms to prevent sport injuries to "smart venues" designed to offer hyper-personalised fan experiences. However, both speakers insist that the human element remains paramount.

Executive leadership coach Gabriela Muller-Mendoza built on the conversation around tools vs people, challenging attendees to adopt a "growth mindset" for what she coined "Generation T" (Generation Transformation). She urged leaders to move beyond outdated "best practices" such as the “Know-it-All” Leadership style and instead look for "next practices" by reading signals from fast-moving industries, such as fintech.

With data now considered the "new oil" of the industry - a valuable source of competitive advantage, experts from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games led a masterclass on integrity, trust, and responsibility. Marie-Dominique Alessandri, Data Protection Officer, demystified European’s data privacy law, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), stressing the importance of "Privacy by Design as a guiding principle rather than a mere compliance exercise”.

Kevin Martel showed how real-time data can optimise live event operations, including more responsive management of venue concessions. Bringing the discussion together, Tim Goethals, Wiz-Team’s Chief Operations Officer, highlighted a recurring theme across the Summit: technology alone is never enough to deliver results.

The final session, "Technology in Motion," addressed a persistent challenge for major events: operational fragmentation. Joe Cusdin, CEO and Co-Founder of Iventis and Alexei Bogatov, Co-Owner and Founder of Eventwheel International demonstrated how integrated platforms for spatial planning and incident management can bring order to processes still too often managed through unwieldy tools, including disconnected spreadsheets.

Derek Salisbury, TPT Hub Managing Director expanded on this point, highlighting the broader “digital pivot” required within organising committees, noting that many teams continue to operate in isolation, limiting coordination at critical moments.

The Summit also served as a launchpad for IGNITX’s own suite of specialised tools, developed to address specific pain points in event delivery:

For more information on IGNITX services or to request a demo of our new tools, please contact us at info@ignitx.events.

Debuting at the Summit this year, the Spark Zone provided a global stage for five emerging companies that are proving the power technology to deliver better, smarter, more efficient events. Identified through a collaborative call for applications in partnership with the Global Sports Innovation Center (GSIC), these innovators were selected from the GSIC ecosystem for their practical relevance to modern event delivery:

The Summit concluded with a bonus workshop, "AI in Action," delivered in collaboration with the International Olympic Academy Participants Association (IOAPA) and Project Asia Data.

Led by data science expert Koo Ping Shung, the session offered a practical demonstration of tools like Gemini and NotebookLM. Koo emphasised that while AI can support and save time on everyday tasks, including drafting checklists, summarising extensive reports, and rapidly "reading" regulatory documents, it requires a "human-in-the-loop" to ensure  accuracy, accountability, and ethical use.

He encouraged participants to treat Large Language Models (LLMs) as well-read assistants that still require oversight and supervision.

As the industry continues to evolve, IGNITX remains committed to bridging the gap between human expertise and technological innovation. We thank all our speakers, partners, and participants for their contributions to the 2025 Summit.

Missed the live event? You can watch the recordings of all Summit sessions on our Youtube Channel.