01 Dec Working Group – Governments to Mitigate the Impact of COVID-19 on the Sports Industry

---

The Global Sport Innovation Centre powered by Microsoft – as a non-profit organization connecting different players in the sport industry, as a unique hub with over 350 members from all over the world and as the global reference point at a global level on digital transformation in the sport eco-system – wishes to contribute to identify a sustainable and long-term path towards the future. We do this by offering a “space for reflection” and a “space for action” to stakeholders of our Global Sport Community.

For this reason, we need creativity, “thinking outside the box” and new avenues for knowledge-sharing at a global level – also with the help of innovation. GSIC and the GSIC Community aim at establishing, coordinating and finalizing a “Inter-governmental Working Group”.

On November 30, the GSIC has officially launched this special Working Group composed by governmental representative of such countries as Spain, Italy, France, Andorra, Australia, Singapore, and China, and driven by one of our Ambassadors, Francesco Anesi.

The main goal of this Working group is to explore new social formulae for mitigating the impact of pandemics on the Sport Eco-System via “digital transformation”. Other objectives of the first session were:

• Enabling a global reflection on Innovation and Sport in the post-COVID landscape, using a methodology
  of “open innovation”;
• Placing Sport (and Innovation) at the forefront of post-pandemic recoveries

At the first session, we counted on help of enlightening leaders from the world of practice, Prof. Mike Spence, Nobel Laureate in Economics (2001) with George Akerlof and Joseph Stiglitz, and Prof. Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director-General for the Social and Human Sciences of UNESCO to kickstart this global reflection.

The “Inter-Governmental Working Group” will produce a short report on the proceedings of the online byinvitation-only meetings; will push forward the agenda by providing informal advice to governmental and field of sport; and it might aim to deliver a synthesis of the ideas shares in a future summit with international leaders.

---