Nike last week opened its Nike+ Fuel Lab in San Francisco, a collaborative work and testing space in the city's SOMA neighborhood designed for selected partner companies to develop products that integrate the NikeFuel system for tracking and measuring activity.
The Fuel Lab grew out of last year's Nike+ Accelerator, in which 10 startups were given $20,000 and the opportunity to work in Portland for three months to develop apps and products connected to the Nike+ platform. The Fuel Lab, on the other hand, is a permanent space in the nation's tech epicenter, created for more established Silicon Valley companies who already have user bases in the millions and a track record for popular products that have strong potential to integrate with Nike's digital platform.
Nike’s history of developing strong partnerships includes working with Apple to develop products since 2006, when the two companies introduced Nike+ Running. Nike has since created Apps for iOS including Nike+ FuelBand, Nike+ Training Club and Nike+ Move which launched in Fall 2013. The Nike+ community currently has 28 million members.
“We are excited about evolving NikeFuel to deliver richer experiences that make it easier for all athletes to reach their potential,” said Stefan Olander, Nike’s Vice President of Digital Sport. “The demand for simpler data-powered experiences is soaring, and all-day sensing is more available on mobile and wearable devices than ever before. Nike is committed to broadening the use of NikeFuel through collaborations with industry leaders to create smarter products and services.”
