SIT Autonomous and Acronis announce a strategic partnership to provide a wide range of Machine Intelligence (MI) services to major global sports teams

 
 

SIT Autonomous and Acronis announce a strategic partnership to provide a wide range of Machine Intelligence (MI) services to major global sports teams

14 Mar 2022

Monday, 14.03.2022 – Schaffhausen, Switzerland –The Schaffhausen Institute of Technology (SIT) and Acronis, the global leader in cyber protection, have entered into a major collaboration in the field of machine intelligence (MI) for sports, making SIT Autonomous a service provider for legacy sports teams such as Atlético de Madrid, Hendrick Motorsports and TOYOTA GAZOO Racing.

SIT Autonomous is a branch of the SIT Ecosystem dedicated to empowering robots and autonomous cars. Founded by Dr Serguei Beloussov in 2019, SIT is a growing ecosystem focused on Sciences, Education and Technology, offering unique resources and intelligent solutions that address some of the key challenges of the world. With this partnership, SIT Autonomous keeps on expanding its legacy in autonomous and robotics, forged by multiple affiliations with world-known scientists and researchers as well as its unrivalled domination in Roborace.

MI is taking on a prominent role in the Sports industry, from selection processes and pre-game preparation to post-game and team performance analysis. This partnership will positively impact many major sports teams being Acronis partners from around the globe, among which Atlético de Madrid, Hendrick Motorsports, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, and FC Internazionale Milano (Inter).

The delivered services will range from telemetry analysis to object detection and tracking, prescriptive analysis, game simulation, speech recognition, image analysis, brand recognition, video indexing, match attendance forecasts, best price simulator, unique fan detection and profiling, player’s spring/agility forecast and image/video competitive intelligence.

For Serguei Beloussov, Chairman of the Board at SIT, founder and Chief Research Officer of Acronis, this deal definitely brings the sports teams to a new level of digital transformation: “SIT assembled a strong team of Machine Intelligence professionals solving various challenging problems. Acronis accumulated unmatched MI expertise in cybersecurity, data protection and protection management. Joining forces will accelerate bringing new research in autonomous and robotics to production for the benefits of the sports teams.”

Alba Colon, director of competition systems for Hendrick Motorsports adds: “We are thrilled Acronis has partnered with SIT Autonomous. They offer cutting-edge expertise in MI and will provide our team with the technology to ensure we stay ahead of our competition. Our sport evolves rapidly, so additional resources that allow us to make quicker decisions are vital to our success. Acronis has been a valuable partner, and the addition of SIT Autonomous will truly take our relationship to the next level. We look forward to working together to win more races and championships.”

The rapid expansion of MI is changing the course of SIT Autonomous and as a result, the team of engineers, specializing in AI, driverless mobility and robotics, is due to double in size. To spearhead this growth, SIT Autonomous will also be welcoming former VP of #CyberFit Sports at Acronis, Zeca Carvalho, as its new CEO.

“Years ago, Acronis decided to apply its MI expertise to the world of sport, and today we see many applications that help world-class sports teams improve their performance during and after game days. By teaming up with SIT Autonomous, which brings world-class MI knowledge to the pitches and racetracks, and a unique experiential approach to challenges, there is no end to what can be achieved. I look forward to this new role and continuing to be part of this transformation journey. To all our partners, it is an honor to continue to serve you,” commented Carvalho.

This partnership further extends the overall MI focus of SIT ecosystem. In the future, the sports projects are planned to evolve into a broader offering once integrated into SIT Rolos (https://rolos.com), an intelligent platform that simplifies and accelerates research lifecycle by using AI-based computational modelling. Its distributed multi-cloud architecture optimized for MI and simulations allows to reduce consumption of compute resources and cut costs.