Innovation in sport through the IP lens
Not so long ago, decisions in professional sport were driven largely by intuition, reputation and tradition. Scouts trusted their instincts, coaches relied on experience and star players were valued as much for their perceived potential as for their measurable contribution on the field. Then came a quiet revolution. Popularly captured in the 2011 film Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt, data analytics in sport began to challenge conventional wisdom, revealing that performance, value and competitive advantage could be measured more rigorously, and often more accurately, through data.
Today, sports data analytics is no longer a novelty – it is embedded across the entire sports ecosystem. Teams optimize tactics using real-time performance data; athletes track training load, recovery and injury risk through wearable technologies; and fans engage with sport in entirely new ways – through advanced statistics, fantasy football and other fantasy leagues, predictive gaming and data-rich broadcasts that transform spectators into active participants. At every level, data have become a strategic asset – shaping decisions, improving outcomes and redefining what success looks like.
Innovation works in much the same way. Behind every breakthrough technology – from smart wearables and performance-enhancing equipment to technology-assisted officiating systems and health-monitoring platforms – lies a vast and growing body of IP. Patents, trademarks and designs are not just legal instruments; they are rich data sources that document how technology evolves, where investment is directed, and who is shaping the future.
From data analytics to IP analytics
Just as sports data analytics transforms raw performance metrics into actionable insights, IP analytics turns complex IP information into a powerful lens, focused on innovation. By systematically analyzing patent and IP data, it becomes possible to identify emerging technologies, understand innovation trajectories and anticipate where future breakthroughs are likely to occur.
In sport, data analytics helps answer questions such as: Which training methods deliver the greatest performance gains? Which players are undervalued? and Where should resources be invested to maximize results? In technology and innovation, IP analytics addresses parallel questions: Which technologies are gaining momentum? Who are the leading innovators? How fast is a field evolving, and in which directions? and Where are opportunities and risks emerging?
Making sense of innovation data is central to WIPO’s mission. IP analytics helps policymakers design better innovation strategies, enables businesses to make more informed investment decisions and supports researchers and entrepreneurs in navigating increasingly complex technological landscapes. Importantly, it also helps demystify innovation for the wider general public, showing that progress is not accidental but shaped by patterns, choices and strategy.
Sports technologies provide a particularly compelling illustration of this dynamic. From biometric sensors and smart fabrics to data-driven training platforms, the sports sector sits at the intersection of health, technology and performance. IP analytics allows us to see how these technologies emerge, converge and scale – offering insights that go far beyond headline results.
Just as data analytics changed how sport is played, managed and experienced, IP analytics is changing how we understand innovation itself. This WIPO Technology SPARK (Short Pieces of Analysis, Research and Knowledge) report explores that connection, illuminating how data-driven insight is becoming as essential to technological progress as it is to modern sport.
IP and Sports: Ready, Set, Innovate!
World Intellectual Property Day,
This WIPO Technology SPARK report examines the cutting-edge innovations reshaping the sports industry, highlighting how inventors, creators and entrepreneurs leverage IP rights to push the boundaries of athletic performance, transform spectator experiences and expand the reach of sporting events worldwide. Through this analysis, we celebrate the frequently unseen technological innovations that are revolutionizing how society plays, watches and engages with sport in the 21st century.
Scope and methodology
This report draws on original analysis of patent data from Patsnap
Copyright also plays a critical role in sport, particularly in broadcasting, media content, software and digital fan engagement. However, unlike patents, trademarks and designs, copyright is generally not subject to registration and does not generate standardized, publicly available global datasets that support large-scale, comparative analytics. For this reason, this report focuses on registered IP rights, while copyright in sport is addressed through other dedicated WIPO activities and initiatives.
Patent technology classification is here conducted using the International Patent Classification (IPC)
To identify the sporting disciplines to which individual patent families relate, the analysis applies AI-based tagging to classify patents according to sport-specific relevance. This approach allows for a one-to-many mapping between patent families and sports. A single invention (patent family) may therefore be associated with multiple sports where the underlying technology is applicable across different sporting contexts. For example, an invention relating to ball construction, stitching or materials may be relevant to football, rugby, volleyball and other ball sports, and is therefore counted across all applicable sport categories. This reflects the inherently cross-disciplinary nature of many sports technologies.
Defining the scope: human-centered sports technology
To enable a clear and consistent analysis of sports-related IP, the report applies a clear and intentional scope. While sport draws on technologies from many adjacent domains, the analysis – in particular that of patents, which form the main empirical foundation of this report – focuses primarily on sports technology directly related to playing, training for and participating in sport.
By design, the analysis does not extend to all technologies that may be used in sporting contexts. Areas such as broadcasting and audiovisual systems, stadium and venue design or sports nutrition fall outside the scope. The report also excludes motorsports and sports involving animals such as horse racing, where innovation is closely intertwined with automotive, mechanical or veterinary technologies. The focus is therefore on human-centered sports, where athletic performance rather than vehicle or animal technology is central.
Even with this relatively narrow definition, identifying all relevant sports-related IP remains challenging. Patents, trademarks and designs do not always explicitly reference sport as a use case and, for example, relevant inventions may be described using general technical language or classified outside obvious sports-related categories. Conversely, some technologies ultimately applied in sport may not be captured if their sporting relevance only emerges at later stages of commercialization.
A similar scoping principle is applied to sports-related footwear and apparel. While these categories account for substantial patenting activity, only inventions that are explicitly linked to sporting use or performance are included in the analysis. Generic footwear and clothing technologies – such as those relating to casual, everyday or athleisure products – are excluded where they are not clearly tied to sport-specific functions, performance enhancement or use in sporting contexts. As a result, patents filed by major sportswear companies such as Nike and Adidas are only captured where they are classified in, or demonstrably relevant to, sports technology, ensuring that the analysis reflects innovation in sport itself rather than broader fashion or lifestyle markets.
Balancing coverage and precision
Our chosen search methodology for patents, trademarks and designs seeks to balance coverage and precision, prioritizing a high-quality, low-noise dataset suitable for robust analysis. Data validation and sampling exercises indicate that the dataset provides a reliable and robust basis for the trends and insights presented in this report. In the case of patents in particular, additional structural constraints arise. Unlike many WIPO IP analytics reports which focus on clearly delineated technical domains, this sports technology analysis addresses a field that is not neatly defined within the international patent classification framework. The IPC and CPC systems are organized by technical function rather than by sporting discipline, and they do not distinguish systematically between individual sports. Many enabling technologies – such as ball-tracking systems, advanced footwear materials or wearable sensor platforms – are inherently cross-disciplinary and applicable across multiple sports. As a result, classification codes alone cannot fully isolate sport-specific innovation.
To address this, the search strategy relies more extensively than usual on carefully constructed keyword queries in combination with classification filters. While this approach improves coverage, it introduces inherent limitations. Patent documents may reference multiple sports even where the primary commercial focus is on one discipline, and terminology can vary across jurisdictions (for example, “football” and “American football” denoting different sports). Accordingly, the figures presented in this report should be interpreted as robust directional indicators rather than exact counts. Absolute totals may carry wider margins of uncertainty than in more narrowly defined technology fields. However, overall trends, growth patterns and relative distributions are considered reliable.