Next market: Canada. The challenge: Help young athletes feel they belong.

4 November 2026

ThinkSport and Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities are seeking mature solutions that strengthen the community around young athletes. The global call could give Norwegian sports tech organisations a route into a new sporting ecosystem. Applications close on 18 November.

Sports technology is not only about running faster, measuring more or winning the next match. A new international innovation challenge focuses on something more fundamental: whether young people feel there is a place for them in sport. ThinkSport and Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities are behind the <a href="https://tks-sic.agorize.com/en/challenges/challenge-community-builders-2026">Community Builders Sport Innovation Challenge</a>. They are seeking established, practical and scalable solutions that strengthen inclusion, confidence and belonging in Canadian youth sport. The call welcomes organisations from around the world, including Norwegian companies and innovation communities. The application deadline is 18 November 2026. <h2>The community is the challenge</h2> The focus is on the people around an athlete: coaches, parents, teammates and role models. The organisers identify four areas: supportive coaching, parents and families, peer connections and relatable role models. This is not a competition exclusively for new sensors or advanced performance analytics. A relevant contribution could be a product, service or programme. What matters is its connection to young people feeling supported, included and recognised. According to the programme page, the challenge draws on a Toronto workshop with young women athletes in July 2026 and Jumpstart’s youth sport research. Girls and young women are also intended to play an active role in developing and implementing the challenge. Their experiences are part of its starting point, rather than feedback sought only after a solution has been selected. <h2>Beyond an idea on a napkin</h2> The target applicants include advanced startups, scale-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises and large companies. ThinkSport’s invitation also includes established innovative organisations. The programme asks for an existing solution with demonstrated maturity, a clear connection to sport, physical activity, youth development or community support, and the capacity to work with Canadian stakeholders. Applicants should be ready to test, learn and measure impact. For a Norwegian supplier, a general ambition to reduce dropout is therefore not enough. In NST’s assessment, an application should explain what the solution does, who uses it and how potential testing could establish whether it genuinely strengthens belonging. <h2>A potential route into Canada, not a contract</h2> The organisers offer expert feedback and connections with Jumpstart and relevant stakeholders in Canadian sport. Selected organisations may have opportunities to develop, test and showcase their solutions in Canada. The programme also describes a potential five-day on-site collaboration experience. These are opportunities, not promises of paid pilots, procurement or a nationwide rollout. The public programme page does not specify a funding amount or establish any guarantee that participants’ travel and accommodation costs will be covered. The published schedule provides for expert evaluation from 23 November to 5 December, finalist announcements on 10–12 December and a final event in Canada in February 2027. Potential further development, testing and showcasing are scheduled for spring 2027. <h2>Where Norwegian innovators could fit</h2> NST’s assessment is that the call could suit organisations working on coach support, inclusive communication, team environments and youth participation in decision-making. These are examples of possible Norwegian contributions, not a confirmed list of technologies the organisers intend to purchase. Anyone bringing a digital product into youth sport should also be able to explain how it protects children’s privacy and safety, how it would work in a Canadian setting and how people can use it without creating new barriers. These are NST’s recommendations to applicants, not a statement of detailed competition rules. The interesting export opportunity is not simply to sell more technology to sport. It is to demonstrate that technology can make the community around it better. <a href="https://tks-sic.agorize.com/en/challenges/challenge-community-builders-2026">Read the call and apply by 18 November 2026.</a> Check the full terms and practical requirements before submitting. Source-based reporting and NST analysis, 4 November 2026. Based on the organisers’ public programme page and the ThinkSport invitation shared with NST. Hero image: AI-generated illustration of community in youth sport. Not a documentary photograph or official campaign material from ThinkSport or Jumpstart.