How is innovation transforming Europe’s sport and health landscape? The Sports and Health Innovation Accelerator (SHIA) project has officially compiled and analysed its benchmark ecosystem survey, drawing on comprehensive insights from 135 respondents across 31 European countries to map the digital, social, and environmental evolution of the sector.
The results reveal a highly active, collaborative, and institutionally mature ecosystem. However, a structural bottleneck remains evident: while European sport and health organisations are exceptional at early-stage ideation and pilot testing, moving those proven solutions into long-term, sustainable systemic scaling remains a major hurdle.
Key ecosystem statistics at a glance
- 74.9% of participating organisations represent medium-to-large institutions with more than 50 people.
- 90.3% of organisations are actively introducing diverse innovations across the landscape.
- 57.8% express definitive interest in participating in the upcoming SHIA Accelerator programme.
From pilots to policies: understanding the respondent sample and its limits
Before diving into the core thematic shifts, it is important to clarify the nature of our data. The SHIA survey results primarily reflect an institutional, policy-driven respondent sample rather than the entirety of the European sport and health ecosystem. Among those who completed the survey, universities (28.4%), sport federations (27.6%), and NGOs (21.6%) form the overwhelming majority of the cohort. While this provides highly stable, credible insights from established stakeholders, it also highlights a key sampling limitation: commercial and entrepreneurial actors are heavily under-represented, with startups and SMEs making up just over 2% of the respondent pool. This sample bias underscores a vital opportunity for the SHIA project to actively reach out and inject more private-sector agility into the wider ecosystem.
Digital transformation: platforms, data, and the integration gap
Digital innovation has officially transitioned from a luxury to a core strategic necessity, with 70.9% of surveyed organisations categorising it as either “important”, “very important”, or a “core strategic priority”.
The digital wave is currently driven by functional, service-oriented solutions:
- High-adoption champions: Digital platforms (such as booking, payment, and scheduling apps), custom e-learning suites, and performance dashboards are widely integrated into daily workflows.
- The data maturity curve: Rather than letting data sit idle, organisations are actively putting it to work. The primary uses of data include informing strategic or operational decisions (60.0%), monitoring performance and tracking participation/health outcomes (59.3%), and evaluating direct programme impact (51.1%).
- The advanced tech bottleneck: Despite high strategic ambition, advanced technologies remain heavily niche. The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, smart facilities, and wearable tracking devices is highly uneven, often blocked by infrastructure limitations.
The principal barriers keeping digital innovation from scaling are not a lack of skills or interest. Instead, organisations are held back by severe technology integration and interoperability difficulties, legacy systems, and the persistent challenge of securing long-term funding.
Social innovation: inclusive sport, target groups, and the impact hurdle
Social innovation and inclusion form the beating heart of the SHIA ecosystem, with 47.0% of respondents actively running dedicated social programmes. This dimension is highly mature, mission-driven, and tightly aligned with community needs:
- Core areas of action: Social innovation in Europe, according to the respondents, is heavily manifested through inclusive sport programmes (73.3%) and community-focused education and training initiatives (68.2%). Community health actions (45.2%) and mental health support services (34.1%) also represent vital, growing sub-sectors.
- Targeting vulnerable groups: Children and youth are the overwhelming priority, targeted by 82.8% of social initiatives. However, the ecosystem maintains a strong focus on equity, with half of all programmes specifically addressing women and girls (50.0%) and people with disabilities (49.3%). Migrants and refugees (27.6%) and low-income groups (23.9%) are also key beneficiaries.
- The impact measurement struggle: While the passion and operational execution of these programmes are highly evident, demonstrating their value is a major challenge. The survey revealed that impact evaluation is largely ad hoc; many organisations rely on informal or occasional reflection rather than structured, indicator-based monitoring systems.
Without clear, standardised frameworks to measure and communicate social impact, many excellent community pilots struggle to secure the policy influence and sustainable funding required to scale up.
Environmental sustainability: strategic commitment vs structural action
The green transition is well underway across Europe’s sport and health sectors, yet the survey reveals a clear gap between strategic intent and physical, structural execution:
- The digital green win: The most highly implemented environmental practice is the use of digital solutions to reduce footprint (such as paperless administration and remote service delivery).
- Strategic integration: Organisations are highly successful at incorporating sustainability into their written strategies, policies, and internal awareness-raising activities. Waste reduction, recycling, and the introduction of sustainable materials also show moderate-to-high implementation.
- The infrastructure lag: Where the green transition slows down is in physical, capital-intensive shifts. Improving energy efficiency, integrating renewable energy systems, transitioning to sustainable transport, and embedding eco-friendly procurement guidelines into supply chains remain poorly implemented across the board.
The primary hindrances to environmental innovation are straightforward: the high cost of green technologies and a chronic lack of financial resources, alongside a lack of adequate public infrastructure and external support.
Breaking down the barriers: funding, capacity, and infrastructure
When we look across the digital, social, and environmental pillars, the core obstacles to progress are remarkably consistent. The ecosystem is highly active and rich in ideas, but it is structurally starved of the resources required to move projects past the pilot phase:
- Chronic funding gaps: Funding constraints represent the absolute highest hurdle across every single innovation category, stalling projects at the critical handoff between piloting and scaling.
- Staff capacity and time constraints: Dedicated, passionate teams are stretched thin, leaving little room for continuous iteration, strategic planning, or deep evaluation.
- Data and infrastructure silos: Fragmented digital architectures and a lack of interoperability make it difficult for organisations to collaborate, share valuable datasets, or scale services across borders.
The roadmap forward: how the SHIA accelerator will bridge the gaps
The diagnostic insights from this survey form the direct architectural foundation of the upcoming SHIA Accelerator programme.
With 57.8% of the ecosystem showing eager readiness to join the accelerator, our path is clear. Stay tuned as we roll out the programme to turn fragmented European pilots into large-scale, sustainable, and high-impact systems!
