The Sports Technology Alliance will return to Dublin next month for the second edition of its Irish summit, bringing senior leaders from across sport together at the Sport Ireland Campus on Thursday, October 15th.
The 2026 gathering will run from 10:00 to 15:00 at the Sport Ireland National Indoor Arena, followed by networking drinks, and is free for senior executives and decision-makers in sport.
This year’s theme, “Where Strategy Gets Stuck: Making Change Land,” moves the conversation beyond identifying technology’s potential and toward the harder work of implementing change across sporting organisations.
That is particularly relevant for National Governing Bodies, where ambitious digital, participation and commercial strategies often have to be delivered through relatively small central teams and then adopted across extensive networks of clubs, coaches, volunteers and members.
The programme is built around three extended sessions, hosted by Rob Hartnett of Sport for Business.
Making Change Land at Club Level: Top-Down and Bottom-Up will be led by Ben Wells, CEO of PTI Digital. It will examine why change can stall at leadership and board level, and further down the organisation, when clubs and members do not immediately see the benefit of a new approach.
The discussion is intended to explore the people and culture component of digital transformation as much as the technology itself — an increasingly important distinction as governing bodies invest in new membership systems, education platforms and ways of communicating with participants.
The second session, The 2026 AI Playbook for Sport, will be led by Courtney Stuhmcke of etrainu.
AI was already a major part of the conversation when the Alliance staged its first Dublin Summit last year. Twelve months later the focus will be on what has actually worked, what remains more promise than practice and what concerns sports organisations now have as adoption becomes more widespread.
The format will include discussion around the practical experience of those in the room rather than focusing solely on emerging technology.
The final major session will look at Building Practical Marketing Lifecycles for NGBs, led by Jack Clay, Director of Customer Experience at Spotler.
The central challenge here is familiar to virtually every sport: attracting somebody into the game is only the beginning.
The greater commercial and participation opportunity lies in understanding the individual better, maintaining a relevant relationship with them, and providing appropriate reasons to remain involved as a participant, coach, volunteer, supporter, or member.
The session will explore how governing bodies can improve these communications without necessarily requiring larger marketing teams or significantly greater resources.
From Technology to Implementation
The Sports Technology Alliance was established in 2022 as a collective of specialist technology companies serving the sports sector, built around the principle that no single platform can address every operational requirement of a modern sports organisation. Its expertise spans membership management, learning, communications, data, engagement, and other elements of digital delivery.
Current partners supporting the Dublin event include Sport:80, etrainu, Spotler, ActiveXchange and Ralle.
The inaugural Dublin gathering in 2025 brought Irish sports organisations together around themes including data, digital adoption, AI and organisational change, with a deliberate emphasis on discussion between governing bodies rather than technology companies simply pitching solutions.
That approach will continue in October.
Sport for Business Perspective
An interesting shift is taking place in the sport technology conversation.
AI tools, better membership systems, automated communications and richer participant data are becoming readily available. The competitive advantage comes from whether an organisation can change its working practices, persuade clubs and volunteers to adopt new systems and turn information into better experiences for members.
That makes this year’s Dublin Summit theme particularly timely.
Technology can provide the infrastructure for growth. Getting people to use it effectively is where much of the hard work begins.
The Sports Technology Alliance Dublin ’26 Summit takes place on Thursday, October 15th at the Sport Ireland Campus. Attendance is free, but places are limited.
Register for the Sports Technology Alliance Dublin ’26 Summit
Sport:80 and the Sports Technology Alliance are full members of Sport for Business.
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Image Credit: Sports Technology Alliance
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