The Vaudoise Arena provided the perfect stage this week for the finals of the 2025Sport Innovation Challenge – Data-hack, developed in collaboration with the International Skating Union (ISU), where six teams unveiled the results of two months of work exploring how data, AI and creativity can elevate the skating sports.
Two themes shaped this year’s challenge: transforming short track speed skating data into new digital fan experiences and reimagining how music for figure skating programs can be generated in a legally safe yet emotionally powerful way. While DynamicBeats presented a live demo of their AI-driven music generation system, and secured their spot to showcase their work at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games, the remaining teams competed for the Jury’s top three selections.
This year’s challenge was made possible thanks to the provision of real-life content and data by the International Skating Union (ISU) and the support of Alibaba Cloud, ScoreTech, and Swiss University Sports, whose commitment to innovation continues to strengthen the ecosystem around skating and high-performance sport.
The evaluation panel brought together representatives from the International Skating Union (ISU), ThinkSport, EPFL’s ECAL Lab, and Alibaba Cloud, including:
- Colin Smith, Director General, ISU
- Ravi Guntaka, Head of Data & Digital Solutions, ISU
- Winnaretta Zina Singer, Chief of Innovation, ThinkSport
- Nicolas Henchoz, Founder & Director, EPFL+ECAL Lab
- Vladimir Tsaganov, Head of AI Products and Solutions, Alibaba Cloud
Their task was not an easy one. Projects were assessed against a clear but demanding set of criteria:
Problem Understanding, Creativity, Added Value & Impact, Technical Implementation, and Presentation.
After an evening of pitches, debates and deliberation, the Jury selected the top three projects:
3rd Place — DBIS: Short Track XR (University of Basel)
A dynamic XR concept that transforms short track speed skating data into immersive experiences.
Also crowned the Public’s Favourite, earning the loudest cheers of the event.
2nd Place — TalesSkating (HEIG-VD)
A creative approach to turning skating data into narrative-driven fan engagement, blending storytelling with analytics.
1st Place — DataBlade (FFHS)
A standout project combining strong technical execution with clear real-world potential.
DataBlade will present alongside DynamicBeats at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games and the two teams have been invited by the ISU to the 2026 Figure Skating World Championships (March 24-29, 2026) in Prague.
This year’s Data-Hack demonstrated once again how innovation thrives when sport federations, universities and industry partners work side-by-side. With new ideas ready to be tested on the world stage, the future of skating innovation looks bright.