Athletic Club and BCAM sign a collaboration agreement to address the challenges of the sports industry from a mathematical research perspective

• The agreement aims to identify opportunities for cooperation between BCAM and the club
• BCAM's Data Science and Artificial Intelligence group, the Innovation Department, the Medical Services and the Game Analysis Department of Athletic Club will explore the benefits that applied mathematics can bring to the sports field
• Among the possible ways of collaboration are the development of mathematical models that contribute to the well-being of players, the application of new technologies in sport and the efficiency of infrastructures, among other challenges

The Basque Centre for Applied Mathematics - BCAM and Athletic Club have signed a collaboration agreement to tackle the great challenges of the sports industry from the perspective of mathematical research. The agreement aims to identify opportunities for cooperation between the two entities, as well as to increase the visibility of applied mathematics in the sports industry, both in the social environment and in the academic and R+D+I fields, and the search for synergies in this field with international research entities.

The Data Science and Artificial Intelligence group at BCAM and the Medical Services and Game Analysis Department of Athletic Club will share knowledge and experiences to explore the benefits that applied mathematics can bring to the work of the Bilbao team.

In this sense, the departments involved have identified 4 preliminary lines of action that could serve as a starting point. The first of these would focus on improving the health and well-being of players, as well as assessing and improving their performance through research and the development of mathematical models in the field of prevention, diagnosis and monitoring of injury recovery processes.

The analysis of data in sports and the use of new technologies in the sports industry would be the second focus of the agreement, as valuable knowledge could be extracted through data analysis, mathematical models and the use of artificial intelligence.

It is also proposed to study ways of collaboration for the optimization and efficiency of sports infrastructures by means of mathematical simulation models that would make it possible to optimize everything from ticket sales, management of the flow of assistance to the field, to the energy efficiency of the facilities or the reduction of waste.

Finally, BCAM could contribute to the training of data scientists in the context of professional sport, sport sciences and sport biostatistics.

The collaboration between Athletic Club and BCAM started in 2018 thanks to the Beaz BIOK! challenge where a project was proposed to help prevent and manage player injuries using new technologies. Within this framework, the BCAM proposal that was selected has served to develop a line of work that today translates into an agreement with a three-year validity signed by both entities.