The HYPE Foundation, a platform that connects and invests in sports innovation, in partnership with Asics and WeWork, announced that Humon, a fitness wearable start-up, has won the Global Sports Innovation (Spin) Competition that took place in Boston on October 12, 2017.
The competition attracted over 100 sports and tech brand leaders, investors and start-ups. Humon was selected from a group of 10 finalists from the USA, Australia, Croatia and Switzerland that presented to a panel of esteemed judges at the event.
The finalists pitched their products to a jury of leaders from across the sports, fitness, technology and business community, including head of jury, Gerard Klein, GM Global Performance Running Footwear at Asics, Shinji Senda, GM Easy Running & Training Footwear, Asics, Tsuyoshi Nishiwaki, Head of R&D and ISS (Institute of Sport Science) at Asics, Dan Smith, CEO Runkeeper and GM Asics Digital, Alexis Miller – Director, Northeast America at WeWork, and leaders from Spalding, Babson College, Boston Universityand HYPE Foundation.
The jurors selected Boston based start-up Humon, a wearable targeted towards endurance athletes, as the winner of the global competition. The concept was born while the founder studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The brand was recognized for their product, the Humon Hex, that helps athletes train smarter by monitoring the oxygen levels in their muscles throughout an activity. The device is able to provide both real-time feedback and post-workout analytics using AI. The biometric information is collected through a sensor attached to the athlete’s quad muscle. The measurements taken allow the device to provide personalized insights to guide warm-ups, indicate limits, and properly recover to optimize an athlete’s training.
“We’re so thrilled by this great opportunity,” said Alessandro Babini, co-founder of Humon. “We’re looking forward to collaborating with Asics and learning from one of the top research and development teams in the industry.”
The 2nd place went to Nix which developed a wearable hydration sensor founded by Harvard graduate, and the 3rd place was given to LUNA WEAR, illuminating wearable technology.
The two day event took place on the 11th-12th October 2017 and was hosted by Babson College and WeWork Mass Ave. In addition to the Global SPIN Final Competition, the event included a student ideation hackathon where the participants were challenged to develop solutions to emerging challenges in the sports and fitness sector.
“We are excited that the Global Sports Innovation Competition together with HYPE Foundation challenged the next generation of innovators to address a real issue faced by our industry with the decline in sports participation,” said Paul Miles, general manager global marketing at Asics. “As a brand, innovation is part of our DNA and this competition is the ideal way to mark a new milestone for Asics as we open our new product creation lab in Boston.”
