Mike Caine
Managing Director, Progressive Sports Technologies
Mike is Professor of Sports Technology and Innovation and Director of the Sports Technology Institute at Loughborough University. He has collaborated with numerous sporting goods brands, including New Balance, Nike, Reebok and Speedo as well as individual national teams including England Rugby.
Mike has been a company Director for 14 years having founded two spinout companies and won 3 government research and development grants plus several national and international innovation awards. Mike is named as an inventor on eight patents, several of which have been commercialised via licensing deals with sporting goods brands.
Mike’s research and innovation activities have been featured in over five hundred substantial broadcast and print media outputs, including several BBC appearances and coverage in all the major UK broadsheets.
Mike holds a visiting Professor appointment at MIT, and is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology, published by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
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Scott Drawer
Head of Research and Innovation, UK Sport
Dr Scott Drawer joined UK Sport in 2000 and is currently Head of Research & Innovation. Responsible for a budget in excess of £10m and a team of six, he has led a team responsible for delivering over 75 bespoke, customised and one-off performance solutions to a wide variety of sports involving development of custom equipment, training tools and technologies, and cutting edge insights into enhanced training and recovery methods for performance development. Scott’s primary role is to act as the conductor of scientific, medical and technical expertise to support the best British athletes in the mission to Vancouver 2010 and London 2012.
Prior to UK Sport, he spent three years providing performance analysis and technology support and services across a host of team and individual sports.
This involved the application of leading edge technologies to develop key performance data for coaches to inform tactics, technique and strategic development of individual athletic skill.
He has degrees from Brunel and Nottingham Trent universities and an MSc and PhD from Loughborough University.
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Hilmar Janusson
Vice President of Research & Development, Össur
Hilmar Bragi Janusson, Vice President of Research and Development, has been with Össur since 1993. He was formerly a researcher with the Technological Institute of Iceland from 1987 to 1988. Mr. Janusson is also on the Board of a number of other Icelandic companies. He holds a degree in Chemistry from the University of Iceland and a Doctorate in Chemical Science and Engineering from Leeds University in England.
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Tom Waller
Head of Aqualab, Speedo
Dr. Tom Waller was appointed Head of Aqualab, Speedo’s global research and development facility in 2008 having previously been the Head of R&D for a spin-off consultancy based within Loughborough University’s world renowned Sports Technology Research Group.
His specialist expertise in combining leading edge sports science and technological research well positions him to lead the Aqualab. This is a highly skilled team of design, materials and product development individuals, as well as consultants in physiology, biomechanics, psychology, coaching and fluid dynamics. Their collective mission is to create true swim innovation for athletes and consumers alike. Tom’s personal life is also dominated by sport, more specifically adventure racing and triathlon where he has competed up to Ironman distance. His is also a member of the expert writing panel for the leading publication, 220 Triathlon and has received the Science Communicators Award working on government initiatives to inspire young people into science, technology and engineering careers.
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Brian Walton
VP Performance, Cadence
Brian has one of the most illustrious histories in professional cycling. He became a teammate to Lance Armstrong with Team Motorola, and subsequently went on to be the team leader for Team Saturn from 1993 to 2000. In all that time, Brian had both overall victories, stage wins and top GC results in some of the world’s most prestigious races, including the Giro d’Italia. Brian was a three-time Olympian (1988, 1996, 2000), and took home the Silver Medal in the 1996 Olympics in the Points Race.
As coach for Snow Valley, Brian was elected USA Cycling’s Developmental Coach of the Year. Brian continues to coach and in late 2003 Brian founded and created the training/performance side of Cadence Cycling and Multisport Center in Philadelphia. Brian directs Cadence’s coaching program for the United States Marines Corps’ Triathlon Team and now he has moved into the role as President at Cadence.
In 2006, Brian was inducted into British Columbia’s Sports Hall of Fame and Museum and recognized for his lifelong accomplishments in the sport of cycling.
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Kevin Warwick
Professor of Cybernetics, University of Reading
Kevin Warwick is Professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading, England, where he carries out research in artificial intelligence, control, robotics and cyborgs.
At 22 he took his first degree at Aston University, followed by a PhD and research post at Imperial College, London. He subsequently held positions at Oxford, Newcastle and Warwick Universities before being offered the Chair at Reading, at the age of 33.
Kevin’s most recent research involves the invention of an intelligent deep brain stimulator to counteract the effects of Parkinson Disease tremors. Another project involves the use of cultured/biological neural networks to drive robots around – the brain of each robot is made of neural tissue.
Perhaps Kevin is though best known for his pioneering experiments involving a neuro-surgical implantation into the median nerves of his left arm to link his nervous system directly to a computer to assess the latest technology for use with the disabled. He was successful with the first extra-sensory (ultrasonic) input for a human and with the first purely electronic telegraphic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans.
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Engineering your Performance
In today’s sporting world, engineering plays a key role in improving the human body’s performance. New materials and equipment, real-time body monitoring technologies and advanced training methods make our sporting experience more comfortable and enjoyable and make it possible for elite athletes to break new barriers. This panel discussion will examine how sports benefit society and change the way we live and entertain ourselves.
Points of discussion will include:
- What are the new advancements in engineering that are set to push the physical limits of human performance?
- Does engineering improve competitiveness and fairness in sports?
- How can start-ups commercialise sports engineering technology and stay competitive in the sports market?
- How can new materials and control systems increasingly empower disabled people?
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