Northern Ireland companies are certainly leading the way when it comes to delivering world first and market leading solutions to sports clubs globally. Their disruptive sports technologies are changing the game at both professional and amateur levels, across all major sports worldwide.

None more so than Belfast based start-up INCISIV, who today has been voted 2nd most innovative sports tech company in the whole of the UK by Business Cloud. INCISIV beat off stiff competition from well established companies such as Hawkeye, Playermaker and STATSports, to take the second step on the podium. They were pipped to the post by Tappit, a cashless payment system for fans but held off Fanbase, a technology platform to maximise the fan’s experience, who finished 3rd.

Cathy Craig, CEO and co-founder of INCISIV but also Professor of Experimental Psychology at Ulster University, is delighted with the result. “We are thrilled with the result and delighted that INCISIV has been recognised as a major contender in the sports tech space. We know that many technologies focus on measuring physical aspects of performance but often neglect the mental side of the game. INCISIV is looking to change all that by developing innovative solutions that put the brain into training.”

INCISIV was born in 2018 when Cathy Craig, Professor of Experimental Psychology at Ulster University, noticed how sporting organisations were continually looking to measure physical aspects of performance, but were neglecting the mental side of the game. She and her team set about translating 20 years’ world-leading research into solutions to help people perform better.

Their products use the power of virtual reality to both measure and improve performance. For example, CleanSheet is a first-of-its-kind virtual reality (VR) software program used to analyse goalkeeping performance in real time and improve the way goalkeepers respond to a variety of match-like situations. Presenting shots from a first-person perspective, VR is the optimal tool to control precisely what the brain sees and measure how a player decides to respond.

INCISIV has also developed solutions to help players who are injured and who need to return to play quickly and safely. Over the past decade no sports injury has been discussed more than concussion. With players getting fitter, faster and stronger, head-on tackles can have the equivalent impact of a 40mph car crash. Moreover, players who have suffered a concussion are twice as likely to go on and get a soft tissue injury.

INCISIV’s VR-HIT is looking to help by more accurately measuring brain health while MOViR provides a platform to help players get back on the pitch quickly, but most importantly safely.

Although just starting out, INCISIV is already making waves. Working closely with the Scottish Rugby Union, the Irish Football Association, the Belfast Giants and Stoke City FC, INCISIV is transforming how organisations approach player performance and welfare.