Sports Innovation Challenge

Last week saw the RTSIC projects from the Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) and Global Innovation Design (GID) joint masters courses exhibited at the Rio Tinto offices in Paddington. a number of projects were on display for the event which lasted from Wednesday 23rd April until Tuesday 29th April. The projects were originally shown at an exhibition at Imperial College back in February and a selection of them will also be on show as part of the Imperial Festival on the 9th and 10th of May.

Speakers at the exhibition included Mr Greg Lilleyman (Group executive of Technology & Innovation at Rio Tinto), Prof. Peter Childs (Professorial Lead in Engineering Design at Imperial College London) and Talan Skeels-Piggins (a former Winter Paralympian who has advised students during the athlete workshops).

Read Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) & Global Innovation Design (GID) Exhibition in full

It has been an exciting couple of weeks in Sochi for Team GB’s Paralympians. Although there may be some disappointment for Anna Turney, and frustration from Kelly Gallagher (following several crashes) there has been the elation of three silvers and a bronze of Jade Etherington (and her guide Caroline Powell) as well as a bronze for the Wheelchair Curling Team and of course the historic gold medal for Kelly Gallagher.

With 6 medals to bring home this has been an overwhelming success for Team GB, finishing 10th on the medal table above countries better known for their Winter Sports prowess (Norway and Switzerland to name but two).

But what does this mean for the future. Well calls for more funding for Disability Winter Sports have already been made, there are hopes that Disability Sport UK will be able to benefit from the performances of Team GB in Sochi. Recognition should also go to programs such as Back Up and Battle Back which have provided routes into the sport for athletes following major spinal injury.

A final look to the future, because Team GB is very conscious of nurturing future talent, as shown by their selection of Millie Knight to carry the flag at the opening ceremony. There have been promising results from Millie, James Whitley and Ben Sneesby during the last couple of weeks, and with the desired boost in funding for Winter Sports it is hoped that there may be more gold on the horizon in South Korea in 2018.

Read Sochi 2014 draws to a close and Team GB bring home a fine collection of medals in full

News just in, Britain’s youngest ever Winter Paralympic athlete, Millie Knight, is going to be the flag bearer for Team GB in the opening ceremony at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.

Congratulations Millie, and all the best from everyone at the Rio Tinto Sports Innovation Challenge.

You can follow Millie on twitter @knight_millie and join in with her Paralympic experience.

Read Millie Knight to be Team GB flagbearer in full

Saturday night saw the lighting of the Paralympic Heritage at the Stoke Mandeville Stadium in Aylesbury. The grounds around the stadium were a hive of activity on Saturday afternoon as we took a stroll round, and the area went into security lock-down at 3pm in preparation for the arrival of key members of the Paralympic movement who would be taking part in the ceremony. The event itself was shown (very briefly) on the Channel 4 news and featured Paralympic and featured double gold world and Paralympic champion Hannah Cockroft ignite the Paralympic flame as part of a tribute to the Paralympic motto of ‘Spirit in Motion’. This marks an historic event as it is the first time the Paralympic flame has been lit outside of the host country, and it is planned that Stoke Mandeville Stadium will host the lighting ceremony for every Paralympic Summer and Winter event from now on, to mark its status as the birthplace of the Paralympic movement.

After an afternoon of trying to have a ‘sticky beak’ at the preparations for the event we (me, my wife and our baby duaghter) were treated to a (not-quite) front row view of the amazing fireworks display from our living room window, there has to be some benefit to living in Aylesbury, right?

Read Flame Lighting Ceremony in Stoke Mandeville in full

Today is the first day of 3 day exhibition showcasing the work of this years Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) and Global Innovation Design (GID) students. As part of the Rio Tinto Sports Innovation Challenge the students undertake an intensive project development, having only 6 weeks to research, propose and produce a concept and prototype based around a key theme.

The Brief for this years challenge was to create an innovative product or sport associated with the Winter Paralympic Games and within one of four themes:

• Sport Engagement
• Extreme Sport
• Sports Protection
• Future Sport

There are 13 projects in total including among others:

• a flexible support system for the spine which immobilises the back after sever injury
• a suit that enables the user to slide on snow
• a concept sport where the participants row on ice
• a system to enable hemiplegic athletes to partake in speed skating
• a prosthetic limb for below knee amputee ski jumpers

The exhibition will run this week until Friday 14th February in the Main Entrance of Imperial College on Exhibition Road South Kensington.

Read Exhibition Open at Imperial College Main Entrance in full

A bit of fun for Friday, here’s a nice little animation, as part of the Science of Sochi series on the BBC Sport website, explaining the role technological innovations play in the Winter Olympics.

There are also animations on the body’s performance at extreme conditions, and the development of ski designs for different events.

Team GB Snowboarders Jenny Jones and Aimee Fuller are into the Semi-Finals of the Slopestyle event having just missed out on qualifying for the Finals directly.

Coverage of the opening ceremony begins at 3pm.

Read Technological Innovation at the Winter Olympics in full