Fitness craves new technology

Charlotte Wiberg’s cell phone is ringing non-stop while she negotiates her way through the exercise equipment at Iksu, the largest fitness center in Umeå. She leads by example, and now she wants to bring cross-media research into the fitness world, preferably with the aid of different kinds of cell phone applications. With millions in new research money from Vinnova, her company Creative Camp is developing a new IT fitness platform for Iksu, inspired by interactive architecture.

Large-scale testing

- We’re developing a demonstrator that will promote and motivate exercise, and that can be applied in club and sports activities. It has to keep a certain innovative standard, so the challenge is to create something completely new. Iksu has a long-established tradition of showing interest in new technology, as well as setting the course for new trends. We are now given the opportunity to, together with Iksu and its members, try out our ideas on a larger scale. That is a privilege, she says.

User participation is high on the wish list when developing the exercise tools of tomorrow. 

- We no longer need to explain why we should have information technology in the fitness world. Today there’s a craving for it, and there are many people who want to contribute to development. We’ve reached a critical mass of people using social media, the Internet, cell phones etc. on a daily basis. Together with the members we will develop what is in demand, but also present new fields of applications for the technology.

No IT Messiah

Creative Camp is a company hived off from Informatik at Umeå University, and active in the field of cross-media interaction design. Their objective is to merge the messages of different media and take the product to the next level. 

- It’s about sustainable communication and an understanding for exercise. We don’t want to become some kind of IT Messiah; we just want to be sensitive to the needs of the business. Iksu’s primary needs is for the booking system to function without a glitch, because with over 17,000 members they can’t afford any breakdowns. In the old days Internet was something that companies used a little to advertise their business, but today it often dominates their entire operations.

Within the framework of the program Var Dags IT (Every-Day IT) VINNOVA is financing exiting, useful, and fun IT projects that can be developed into products and services for both every-day situations and leisure time. With the aid of research, these projects will develop so-called IT demonstrators, which will visualize an idea for a project or service, so it can be tested, evaluated and communicated. VINNOVA will feed up to 1.5 million SEK into each project and is currently financing eleven projects over three years - Creative Camp being one of them.