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    Op-Ed                                                                     JULY 03, 2026    |  The Indian Eye 13

            broader market adoption.
                For sports organizations, many
            of the technologies attracting invest-
            ment focus on athlete health, perfor-
            mance, and recovery.
                These include innovations in
            playing surfaces, protective equip-
            ment, hydration systems, wearable
            monitoring devices, and tools that
            track performance during training
            and competition.
              Validating athlete health and
               performance technologies
                Partnerships with organizations
            such as Gatorade Sports Science
            and healthcare providers also help
            companies develop and validate new
            technologies.

            “Working with brands like Ga-
            torade Sports Science to un-       David Steele is the director of Plug and Play Tech Center’s Sportstech vertical in Frisco, Texas, which helps connect sports organizations with

            derstand how hydration and                     start-ups to test, validate, and commercialize new sports technologies. (Photograph courtesy David Steele)
            recovery matter for athletes
            and then working with health-
            care systems like Baylor Scott

            & White Health in Texas allows
            us to understand if there is an
            injury, what is the return-to-
            play process, and what start-up

            technologies are available to
            help increase the likelihood of
            a favorable return at a faster
            timeline,” Steele explains.

                For emerging companies, valida-
            tion can be as important as innova-
            tion. Steele notes that partnerships
            with major sports organizations and
            global brands help demonstrate that
            technologies  can  perform  in  de-
            manding, real-world environments.
                That credibility can accelerate
            adoption, attract investment, and   David Steele interacts with the audience during a presentation on “U.S.-India SportsTech Exchange” at the U.S. Consulate General Mumbai.
            help companies scale far more quick-                             (Photograph courtesy U.S. Consulate General Mumbai)
            ly than they might through grassroots
            growth alone. “Once you break that   tunities for companies to test, refine,  commercial reach.       Steele believes the greatest opportu-
            barrier of those Fortune 1000 or For-  and expand solutions across different   Athlete health is another area   nities will come from building stron-
            tune 500 companies, the scalability of   levels of sport.           with growing potential, particularly   ger connections between innovators
            a start-up technology grows tremen-  “The biggest trends that I’m   in regions with extreme heat.     and the organizations that can help
            dously,” he says.                 seeing right now are going to be AI   Technologies and tools that ad-  them scale.
                                              generation, anything that drives fan   dress  heat-related  challenges,  in-  The lesson from the U.S. sports-
            Scaling opportunities for India’s   engagement or player performance,”  cluding dietary  ingestibles, wear-  tech ecosystem is not simply about
                     sports market            he says.                          able devices, cooling materials, and   adopting  new technologies. It is
                Steele believes the same factor   In India, Steele sees those oppor-  heat-illness  monitoring  systems, are   about creating networks that con-
            that has helped drive the U.S. sports-  tunities intersecting with the coun-  areas Steele predicts will see signifi-  nect innovators with teams, health-
            tech market—scale—also creates sig-  try’s large and highly engaged sports   cant traction.           care providers, brands, and investors.
            nificant opportunities for India.   audience.  He  identifies  cricket  as  a   As sports organizations, start-  Those partnerships help ideas move
                Like the United States, India   uniquely important opportunity for   ups, and investors look for new ways   from pilot projects to widespread
            offers a large potential user base   sports innovation in India because of   to improve performance, engage   adoption, turning innovation into
            for new technologies, creating oppor-  its scale, audience engagement, and   fans, and support athlete health,  commercial opportunities.

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