Technology & Life Sciences

Sledding is one of the marginal sports worldwide, but has been popular in the DACH region for centuries. For generations, the geometry of wooden sledges has been optimized through frequent testing of the experience gained. By pulling in new materials, especially the fiber-reinforced plastic, the weight of an existing sledge could be reduced by approx. 50% in the Lightweigth Supersledge project. Now the fast sports sledge weighs only 4 kg and offers considerable advantages compared to the classic wooden sledge from both a sporting and logistical point of view.

Thanks to its fitness division, IHP has a lot of contact with athletes, trainers, physiotherapists and also sports doctors. In recent years, this close contact has resulted in a need for better and more individual rehabilitation in top and amateur sports. After injuries there is a desire to heal as quickly as possible. Physiotherapists try to support the healing process, for example by means of cold and heat therapy. In both cases, state-of-the-art devices are far from an optimum because they are neither individually adjustable nor can they be used universally. The aim of this project is to close this gap and to develop a universally applicable, individually controllable cold and heat therapy device for use in rehabilitation, as well as for acute injuries and in the period after an injury event.

The project is in cooperation with the local professional football club FC WACKER INNSBRUCK. Together we try to support modern football training with a ball-shooting-mashine called Footbomat. The goal of this project is to train players, especially goal keepers, by putting them into situation which could occure during a game. Crosses, shots, follow-up shots, passes a.s.o. are actions, the Footbomat should be able to take. This is state of the art, so the new approach is here to have more footbomat mashines, which can communicate with each other, and are able to detect, players position, distances, a.s.o. with cameras and sensors. This is the long term goal, but this project mainly tackels the part of developing and building a prototype.

The aim of this qualification network is to provide selected multipliers of the participating corporate partners in tourism with primarily evidence-based knowledge - based on relevant and high-quality research - as well as practical skills in the areas of physical activity and health behaviour and digitisation. Sports and health tourism has experienced constant growth in recent years. Quality is particularly important in this area, as it is the human health that is at stake. In order to guarantee this quality in the individual (tourism) companies and to be able to react competitively to the ongoing digitalisation, the qualification network E-PAST is being developed. The scientific partners of UIBK, UMIT, MCI and MUI will pass on their knowledge in various modules to selected multipliers (in particular the heads of the respective health, exercise, spa and wellness resorts including their employees) of the companies. Participation in two six-day basic modules is obligatory, while up to six further two-day modules can be attended to deepen and specialise. Through the theoretical and practical mediation of experts from the respective subject areas, who are highly competent both professionally and didactically, the sustainability of the knowledge transfer is guaranteed. The modules are intended to convey basic principles and current research findings in the fields of health and digitisation, to develop practical guidelines for working with guests and to provide digital applications with which sustainable health effects can be achieved beyond the guests' stay. In addition to the direct influence of the knowledge gained on the implementation and transfer to the tourist guests in their own companies, the E-PAST qualification network promotes the cooperation of all partners involved and can therefore lead to further research projects, especially in the field of digitisation.

The goal of the project is on the one hand to develop an app and the underlying hardware, on the other hand to gain scientific knowledge in the field of sports science in American football. With the core functionalities of the app, it should be possible to send training machines appearances and commands on the basis of evaluable data.