An update from IKL

Welcome to the second IKL Newsletter of 2021, published on the cusp of the Tokyo Games. It has been a colossal effort by colleagues and stakeholders, not to mention the OCOG, to get us to a place where we can deliver the Games and, in IKL’s case, run our projects in situ. It’s hugely exciting to be finally implementing so much planning work. As I write this, we are putting in place the final arrangements for the Games Experience Programme (GEP) in cooperation with the IPC, and with support from the Tokyo Information and Knowledge Management (IKM) team, and the World Academy of Sport (WAoS). We are working closely with Intel to physically install the data-capture sensors in key locations. We continue to engage with Alibaba to build our operational insights engine. And we are engaging across the Tokyo OCOG on their content, both structured and unstructured, to prove and confirm our various transfer-of-knowledge activities. Of course, there are a ton of other things going on, but these flagship Games-time projects are vital to our work.

There are three things I want to highlight in this edition:

First, the professional development opportunities arising from IKL’s involvement in the technology work in Tokyo has been great to see. It is so important that we grasp these opportunities to grow the experience of our small IKL team and equip them to meet the many challenges we will face. This process of future-proofing our work is refreshing to see on many levels. 

Second, it is good to see our little strategy summary shared. It is an easy-to-read document which, I hope, encapsulates what IKL is about and sets us up well for the next period. I am particularly pleased that we are properly aligning IKL scope across both the IOC and the OCOG, and exploiting many synergies in our ongoing work with the OCOGs. It is so much easier if we are discussing like-for-like projects and activities, and sharing ways to overcome similar challenges. Of course, it is not perfect and, as ever, I welcome feedback to help it improve further! 

Third, I want to touch on the recent Knowledge Value Network meeting. This was a short virtual session, but I found it thoroughly stimulating. The promise of new technologies in our Microsoft environment that are focused on well-known knowledge management challenges, together with a really exciting evolution in aggregating core OCOG information in Paris, was thoroughly absorbing to hear about and discuss. I hope we can do more of these shorter, intense sessions and flush out equally important topics for reflection. 

The next newsletter will be published after Tokyo. I wish us all – collectively – good luck! 

All the best, 

Chris Payne

IKL Associate Director