Igloo sharpens its focus: From networks to tangible innovation projects
Igloo wants to identify projects first and build networks around them. At SNØ, it outlined the approach, funding responsibilities and work on ski technology, athlete expertise and testing.
<p><strong>First identify promising projects. Then connect the people, technology and companies that can move them forward. Igloo Innovation is reversing the order of its working model: concrete development tasks should build the network, rather than starting with a large physical community.</strong></p> <p>This was the direction Igloo outlined when key partners, former and current members and athletes gathered at SNØ in Lørenskog on 10 November. Three active projects illustrate the approach: MonsterGlide, Springboard 2 and Snow Sports Innovation Hub.</p> <h2>Projects first — networks around them</h2> <p>In its introduction, Igloo described how its earlier approach was to bring companies and entrepreneurs together in a physical environment at SNØ, then develop networks and projects from that base. It now increasingly starts with specific challenges and project opportunities before connecting relevant expertise and partners.</p> <p>The ambition to link sport, business and research remains. Igloo also retains its model of seven sports industry sectors: professional sport, sports goods, sports retail, fitness training, sport tourism and events, amateur and recreational sport, and sports medicine and public health. The model is also presented on its <a href="https://iglooinnovation.no/">website</a>.</p> <p>Projects should create value within this industry framework, rather than simply provide activities to keep a network running. A larger physical environment could become relevant again if project work creates demand for it. This was described as a possibility, not an approved expansion.</p> <h2>Igloo connects and facilitates — project owners carry funding responsibility</h2> <p>An important clarification at the gathering was that Igloo does not have its own fund or dedicated financing pool backing the new approach. It can help identify funding opportunities and connect organisations, but responsibility for financing rests primarily with those driving the projects.</p> <p>Experience with EU projects was highlighted as a route to both deeper subject knowledge and international networks. Opportunities for national and local collaboration were also discussed. This concerns developing and delivering projects together, not a promise of capital for everyone bringing an idea.</p> <h2>MonsterGlide: From development concept to testing on skis</h2> <p>In the <a href="https://iglooinnovation.no/projects/ski-future">MonsterGlide project</a>, Igloo works with Norwegian technology company MonsterGlide AS on new solutions for the ski industry. According to the project description, work has progressed from several years of development to practical testing of new concepts.</p> <p>Igloo CEO Jarle Aambø is project manager, while Kjetil André Aamodt is involved as a test pilot. Stereoskis has supplied skis for testing. Igloo also reports support from Innovation Norway and collaboration with international partners.</p> <p>SNØ provides an environment for connecting development with practical skiing experience. Igloo nevertheless describes the project as being at an early stage. Specific technical solutions have not been disclosed because intellectual property and further development remain central. This does not support claims of a completed product launch or demonstrated performance improvements.</p> <h2>Springboard 2: Turning athlete experience into new opportunities</h2> <p>The website describes <a href="https://iglooinnovation.no/projects/eu-springboard">Springboard 2</a> as supporting female athletes exploring opportunities in sports technology, health, innovation and entrepreneurship. Building on Springboard, it combines skills development, mentoring and international connections. Igloo leads and administers the collaboration.</p> <p>At the gathering, Springboard 2 was described as EU-funded and as a continuation with a more explicit focus on women than the first Springboard project. International partners and networks form part of the approach. The resource is not simply an idea or a technology, but also athletes’ understanding of everyday training and problems that still lack good solutions.</p> <p>The gathering’s programme allocated the afternoon to a workshop for Springboard 2 participants. The invitation described a working session for former and current elite athletes on how their experience and expertise could provide a route into sportstech. This is the programme’s purpose, not a claim that the gathering has already produced new companies.</p> <h2>Snow Sports Innovation Hub: An operational arena at SNØ</h2> <p>The third active project is <a href="https://iglooinnovation.no/projects/snow-sports-hub">Snow Sports Innovation Hub</a>. Igloo describes an operational winter-sport arena at SNØ connecting practical training and testing with equipment development, research and industry.</p> <p>The website specifically identifies national team activity, a new sensor system for measuring skiing and cable-assisted speed training. The gathering also heard about testing a winch to pull athletes up to speed, including sit-ski users on flat sections. The aim is to explore new training and development opportunities together with SNØ.</p> <p>The project illustrates how a physical training environment can also support development work. The website does not provide results that would allow the effects of the sensor system or speed training to be quantified.</p> <h2>Climate adaptation could become a new collaboration</h2> <p>Igloo also described work on a project application together with the organisations around Hafjell and Kvitfjell. The theme is how event organisers, destinations, ski federations and local and regional authorities can collaborate more effectively on future climate challenges.</p> <p>This was presented as project development and application work, not as an approved or operational fourth project. It nevertheless illustrates how the sports industry model can extend beyond product development: connecting organisations around a challenge none can solve alone.</p> <h2>NST’s assessment: Projects make collaboration concrete</h2> <p>This is a relevant direction for Norwegian sports innovation. Networks can open doors, but development also requires defined tasks, responsibility and opportunities for testing. Igloo’s three active projects offer concrete examples of how such connections can be organised.</p> <p>That does not guarantee sporting outcomes or commercial scale. Value must be assessed through what the projects actually learn, develop and test. The direction is nevertheless clear: Igloo wants to use relationships for more than bringing people together — they should also help projects progress.</p> <p><small>Project information and plans are attributed to Igloo. NST’s assessment is labelled separately. The hero is an archive illustration, not a photograph of the event.</small></p>