Olympism365: Six innovators awarded grants to advance UN SDGs through combination of sport and technology

16 September 2025 – Six recipients have received Tech365 Incubate grants, each worth up to USD 40,000, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced. The grants will support the design of projects aimed at accelerating sport’s contribution to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) through the use of emerging technologies. The programme is part of the Olympism365 Innovation Hub, a global community advancing new ideas and technologies to maximise the impact of sport.

Meet the Tech365 innovators:

• All in for Sport Consortium, whose members are piloting a web3-enabled platform that gives marginalised communities direct control over sports funding, boosting transparency, access and fairness. The consortium’s four members are: Sarreya Sport, fútbol, Bonito Foundation and All in for Sport.

• Bamako-Technologie (Mali), which is developing an electricity-generating bicycle that will enable households to meet essential energy needs.

• Fundación Gold Sports (Colombia), which is combining basketball with accessible digital tools that promote mental wellness, self-expression and inclusion through podcasts, interactive content, group sessions and digital training for young people, caregivers and coaches.

• Positive Impact Events (Global), which is developing Eventsustainability, an AI-technology that suggests optimal decisions and practical actions to help sports events advance the SDGs.

• Sports’ Intelligence (Colombia), which is bringing data-driven insights, modern training tools, and scalable performance tracking systems in the world of sports.

• Women Emerging (WE) (GBR), which runs virtual learning journeys that generate stories and insights which feed into the WE Hub – a free, AI-powered digital library offering women practical leadership knowledge and easy access to each other’s experiences.
  

These six projects show how innovators can creatively combine the universality of sport with the potential of technology to advance the UN SDGs. The Tech365 Incubate grants will be used by recipients to either seed new ideas or expand existing innovations to reach more people and communities.

Ollie Dudfield – IOC’s Olympism365 Associate Director

Diana Teresa Parra-Sánchez from Fundación Gold Sports said: “We are proud to be one of the recipients of this grant. Access to the Olympism365 Innovation Hub will provide valuable expertise, enabling us to strengthen our programme design and expand its reach, also by sharing knowledge with other organisations. Ultimately, this support will enhance our capacity to use basketball and digital tools as powerful drivers of mental wellness, inclusion and youth empowerment in vulnerable communities.”

Maria Luisa Zambrano Rojas from Sports’ Intelligence commented: “Thanks to the Tech365 Incubate grants, we aim to accelerate the development and impact of Sports’ Intelligence by connecting with a global network of changemakers who share a vision of sport as a driver for social transformation. Within this shared ecosystem of innovation, sport becomes a universal language for dignity, opportunity and inclusion.”

Tech365: exploring and incubating ideas

Tech365 follows a two-stage approach, initially through Tech365 Explore and subsequently through Tech365 Incubate.

Tech365 Explore is a thinktank comprising 25 diverse innovators from around the world who exchange ideas designed to benefit people, communities and the planet. The programme led to the publication of the Tech365 Manifesto, collectively created by the 25 innovators to set out their values, principles and ambitions.

They were all invited to apply for a flexible grant through Tech365 Incubate, and the recipients were selected through a vote held at the Olympism365 Summit: Sport for a Better World in June 2025, by Summit attendees, IOC Young Leaders and the members of the Tech365 Explore cohort.

Funded projects will serve as case studies, and recipients are expected to proactively and transparently share their progress and insights with their Tech365 Explore peers, and be willing to contribute to the Olympism365 Innovation Hub knowledge and exchange activities.

About the Olympism365 Innovation Hub

The Olympism365 Innovation Hub is supporting a diverse community of innovators leading new and impactful approaches to sport for sustainable development. The Hub is a collaboration between the IOC and two non-governmental organisations, Beyond Sport and Women Win.

As well as the Tech365 Explore grants, announced in March 2025, and the Tech365 Incubate grants, announced today, the Olympism365 Innovation Hub’s initiatives include:

• Ignite365 Awards, five grants of USD 10,000 that were awarded in August 2024 to community projects that are advancing the UN SDGs.

• Grassroots365 Grants, which in November 2024 saw 12 grassroots projects provided with funding of USD 17,000 to drive social development in their communities.

• Enterprise365 Grants, with total funding of USD 300,000 awarded in November 2024 to nine social enterprises working on sport-for-social-development projects.

• Collective365 Grants, totalling USD 470,000 provided in February 2025 to 13 collaborations between sports and non-sports organisations.

More information about Olympism365, the IOC’s strategy to strengthen the role of sport as an important enabler for the UN SDGs, can be found here.