Increasing swimming participation
Some of our students worked with Speedo, a manufacturer and distributor of swimwear and swim-related accessories. Speedo posed the following question for the students to explore in their projects: How can Speedo engage or/and entertain the spectator to improve their experience at a live swimming event?
Working with the students was a very valuable experience and we learnt a lot from the experience, as I’m sure the students did also. It was great to work with groups bringing a number of different skill sets together to form a response to our brief, it also gave us the opportunity to approach some of our problems from a completely new viewpoint. A few of the ideas that came out of the work were innovative and could have potential in the future, especially the app idea from Jasjoot’s group.
Rob Blenkinsopp, Innovation Research Manager, Speedo
About Speedo
Speedo International Ltd is a manufacturer and distributor of swimwear and swimming accessories based in Nottingham. The success of Speedo is primarily down to the innovation of new swim suits and advanced technology. They launched the revolutionary Fastskin range before the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games where 13 world records were broken.
Site visit
The students enjoyed a guided tour around the London Aquatics Centre, one of the main venues of the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Paralympics, to better understand the spectator experience at international swimming events.
Working with a range of students from a variety of disciplines we were able to cover topics in more depth and variety as everyone had different perspectives. Students began to consolidate their learning by synthesising ideas from many perspectives and considered an alternative way of acquiring knowledge. Interdisciplinary knowledge and application of different disciplines lead to greater creativity.
Jasjoot Mudhar, Student at Loughborough University London
What is Speedo up to now?
Speedo had 130 of their sponsored swimmers competing in the 2016 Rio Olympics!
