BCAM collaborates with Runnea in the implementation of NEXT, an experimental development project in the area of sport and health

The aim of the project is to develop and implement mathematical models and Artificial Intelligence tools for monitoring the performance and physical improvement of Runnea Academy platform users

This collaboration is part of the HAZITEK programme to support business R&D

BCAM - Basque Center for Applied Mathematics has signed a contract to develop a research project in collaboration with the company Runnea and thus contribute to the implementation of the NEXT tool.

The main objective of the project is the development and implementation of mathematical models and Artificial Intelligence tools for monitoring the performance and physical improvement of users of the Runnea Academy platform.

To carry out the collaboration between both parties, Runnea will be in charge of data collection and pre-processing of the information of its platform users, as well as the monitoring of Runnea Academy personal trainers. BCAM will be in charge of the development and validation of the mathematical models, Artificial Intelligence algorithms that will later be implemented in the Runnea Academy application.

The algorithms to be developed by the BCAM team will be used to monitor users' training and predictive models for the detection of overtraining patterns and/or decrease in performance, based on data related to different variables such as age, gender, heart rate, perception of effort, or training load, among others.

Dr. Dae-Jin Lee, leader of the Applied Statistics research line, will be in charge of supervising the project with the support of his research team from BCAM's Knowledge Transfer Unit (KTU).

"Increasingly, technology in sport is becoming available to most runners through heart rate monitors and other smart devices such as heart rate monitors. The Runnea NEXT project will allow us to develop mathematical models and artificial intelligence techniques applied to the performance of non-professional runners, which will allow us to move towards an improvement in the health of athletes who follow the Runnea Academy training programme, which is endorsed by Runnea's team of physical trainers", says Dae-Jin Lee.

According to Dr. Iker Muñoz, sports director and doctor in physical activity and sport sciences, "Our technology, through the RUNNEA ACADEMY App, integrates, processes and interprets different variables through synchronisation with the main electronic devices. The use of this data is of vital importance to be able to individualise the training programme and propose sessions according to the person's initial state of fitness, making their programme evolve according to their needs. We are integrating an increasing number of variables related to the athlete's performance and health, which in turn allow us to reach the athlete's best form on the target date in an efficient way".

Runnea NEXT will be developed within the framework of HAZITEK, a Basque Government programme to promote research and development projects in SMEs as well as in large companies and business associations, which offers grants to develop new industrial research and experimental development products.

About BCAM

The Basque Center for Applied Mathematics is an international research centre in the field of Applied Mathematics. It has more than 120 researchers of 25 nationalities working in diverse areas, from data science to mathematical modelling. It has twice been accredited as a "Severo Ochoa" centre of excellence by the State Research Agency. This distinction is awarded to the world's best research institutions in their field.

About RUNNEA ACADEMY

RUNNEA ACADEMY is a sport tech company that has developed a technology that allows the digitisation of the processes of individualisation of the training of popular runners according to the fitness of each user.

The challenge of RUNNEA ACADEMY is to digitalise and regularise the running training market in the world.

Our two main objectives are:

- To digitise the processes of individualisation of training for popular runners, making training accessible, understandable and safe.

- To help coaches to reach more clients, gaining efficiency in their training and in a safer way for athletes.