SMART Lab x Crans Montana 2027: Call for Projects
SMART Confluence, the innovation ecosystem dedicated to health and sports in Valais, is launching a new edition of the SMART Lab, this time in partnership with the 2027 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Crans-Montana. Open to startups, companies, research institutes, associations, industrial groups, teams, and innovators from Switzerland and abroad, this call for projects aims to identify solutions that are mature enough to be tested under real-world conditions during the event.
Digital Innovation: Reinventing the Fan Experience & Optimizing Event Organization Under Real-World Conditions
The SMART Lab thus transforms an international sporting event into a full-scale innovation lab, centered on two challenges defined in collaboration with Crans-Montana 2027.
The first involves reinventing the fan experience by making it more seamless, inclusive, immersive, and personalized: real-time information and communication, on-site navigation, accessibility, adapted interfaces, and personalized content driven by data, artificial intelligence, and sports statistics are among the approaches being considered.
The second aims to optimize the organization of the event, particularly through monitoring and controlling energy consumption, sustainable transportation of equipment in alpine environments, and the traceability, tracking, and management of equipment. Mobile apps, digital platforms, connected devices, AI solutions, assistive technologies, management tools, monitoring systems, and hardware prototypes may all be eligible under this call for projects.
Solutions do not need to be fully finalized, but must be sufficiently mature to be tested, adapted, or validated in the field. Selection criteria will include, in particular, their innovative nature, feasibility, potential impact, and added value for spectators or organizers.
For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in French-speaking Switzerland, the appeal lies precisely in this opportunity to test an innovation against real users and operational constraints, while benefiting from concrete feedback, support from SMART Confluence and its network of experts, and the visibility provided by an international sporting event. This is an opportunity not only to move from a prototype to proof-of-concept, but also to subsequently consider rolling out proven solutions at other sporting events.
