JEC dedicates March 7 to composite innovations in sports
Composites have made great strides in sports equipment, from traditional Olympic and Paralympic sports to emerging recreational activities. To celebrate, JEC Group is hosting a day of round tables, debates, testimonials and exhibitions at JEC World 2024.
Composite materials are already being used in abundance for the 2024 Olympic Games, including this Hope/Lotus track bike (top left), kite-foiling board (top right), Cobra wind surfboard (bottom left) and 3D printed bobsled (bottom right). The first three will be used as equipment in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in the summer, while the bobsled will be incorporated into the 2024 Winter Games. Source | Lotus, Beau Outteridge, Cobra International and CRP USA (compiled by CW)
As the world turns its attention to France for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, JEC Group (Paris) will be hosting, with international sports forum Global Sports Week Paris, a day dedicated to sports and composites on March 7, 2024 during JEC World 2024. This day will demonstrate how these materials are redefining performance standards in 18 Olympic and Paralympic summer sports. From archery to sailing, composites are ubiquitous, offering lightness, resilience and performance, greatly contributing to the evolution of athletic performance.
March 7th, focused on discovery and exchange, will address numerous topics related to sports and composites. From 9:30-12:30, round tables, debates and testimonials will show how composites serve sports on one hand, and how sports serve innovation in composites on the other, covering:
- Composite materials — their lightness, resilience, stiffness, elasticity and other properties that make them of value.
- The sports industry — sports provide a playground to test novel materials and processes that other sectors can only adopt after long industrial certification and implementation processes. How do major companies use the sports industry to test new processes, techniques, etc.?
- Composites equipment being used for Paralympic sports, physical protection (masks, helmets, cockpits, etc.) and applications in the health field.
- Sports and ESG criteria — athletes are continuously pioneering the use of natural materials (bio-sourced and/or recyclable fibers and resins.
- Foil and composites — how have composites revolutionized competitive water sports and sports in general?
During this day-long event, the following speakers will be touching on these topics (more to be announced soon):
- Xavier Roussin-Bouchard, innovation director, Rossignol
- Thomas Dupont, composite R&D manager, Look Group
- Damian Cessario, founder and CEO, V-Carbon
- Christophe Lecompte, VP of biomechanical solutions – research and development, Össur
- Luca Rizzotti, founder, The Foiling Organization.
To offer visitors a complete experience, the “Discover Composites” area, an immersive exhibition tracing the evolution of composites in sports, has been created at the entrance of Hall 6 at the Paris Nord Villepinte. This space will showcase a panorama of sports using composites, as well as the major milestones associated with them, to reveal how composites shape the present and future of sports.
