When you introduce advanced visual technology within an already existing lucrative market, you have the potential to create an explosive reaction. That is exactly the model SportLogiq is using, introducing image analysis into the multi-million market of sports analytics. Estimated at $125 million in 2014, sports analytics is anticipated to reach $4.7 billion by 2021. Mostly done manually using banks of humans processing hours of videos, it is now on the verge of being completely disrupted, thanks to the efforts of the Marc Cuban-backed, Montreal-based startup.
We caught up with CTO and co-founder Mehrsan Javan to learn more:
– A little about you, what is your background?
I am currently the CTO and a co-founder of SportLogiq, a computer vision based sports analytics startup based in Montreal. My passion for image analysis and
computer vision comes from my undergrad study when I became interested in biomedical image analysis. I worked a couple of years as an automation and control system engineer while working toward my master degree in electrical engineering. I did my PhD. in McGill University focusing on computer vision and content-based video retrieval and have been involved in many research projects about vision based tracking and human activity recognition in videos. This is where the core technology behind SportLogiq was born. I am still involved with academia and affiliated with McGill University as an adjunct professor.
– Explain SportLogIQ. What does it solve and how does it work?
– Can it do this real-time? Or is there a delay?
– Can it use regular broadcast tv or does it need a special feed?
– Hockey first and then other sports? Which ones do you have in mind?
– Will it consider natural elements ( like rain, wind, heat) in its results ?
– Can the technology be expanded to usage outside of sports? For example, crowd analysis and patterns or animal behaviors?
– Will it be able to predict accurately which teams will win based on past patterns?
– Also, can it detect cheating ( like drugs) by detecting unusual patterns?
– Are you finding that you can track stats that were impossible for a human to do previously and learn more about a players abilities?
– Who is your typical customer?
– Tell us about your consumer offering? Will I be able to use SportLogiq to track my kids progress?
– What would you like to see SportLogiq offer that technology cannot yet deliver?
Author: Paul Melcher
Paul Melcher is a highly influential and visionary leader in visual tech, with 20+ years of experience in licensing, tech innovation, and entrepreneurship. He is the Managing Director of MelcherSystem and has held executive roles at Corbis, Stipple, and more. Melcher received a Digital Media Licensing Association Award and is a board member of Plus Coalition, Clippn, and Anthology, and has been named among the “100 most influential individuals in American photography”