From a practical question to innovation

What happens when education, research and the business community come together to tackle a real-world problem? At the Fontys ICT InnovationLab, students, lecturers, researchers and businesses collaborate on current, practical ICT challenges. The Partners in Innovation are linked to this collaboration through SPARC. In this way, education, applied research and the business community come together, generating new knowledge and innovative solutions for the region.

A fine example of this is the project centred on PSV. Students from Fontys ICT investigated how different data sets relating to player popularity could be combined, such as sporting performance, activity and sentiment on social media, media coverage and visibility to sponsors.

The result is the PSV Player Popularity Index and Visualiser: an interactive environment where these data sources converge. A notable feature is the allocation of AI for sponsor exposure. The students developed a feature that recognises sponsor logos in social media content and presents the results clearly.

For this project, the students collaborated with PSV as the client and Citric Labs Analytics as the knowledge partner. Citric Labs is an AI and data start-up that emerged from the Fontys ICT Student Incubator programme and works closely with SPARC (Sharing Platform for Applied Research Co-operation) and Fontys ICT in Eindhoven. This brought together expertise in software development, data analysis, AI, data visualisation and marketing in a single practice-oriented project.

Close to talent

The collaboration within SPARC not only offers companies opportunities to work on innovative challenges alongside Fontys ICT, but also to get to know talent at an early stage. Students apply their knowledge to practical challenges and gain experience by working alongside professionals from the work field.

At the same time, organisations gain a fresh perspective on their challenges and can present themselves as potential employers. This fosters a valuable relationship even during the study programme, one that offers long-term opportunities, such as internships, final assignments and future collaborations.

Part of a wider network

For Maurice van Veghel, chairman of the SPARC cooperative, the project centred on PSV demonstrates what the network stands for: bringing together organisations, students and innovative parties to share knowledge and tackle real-world challenges.

SPARC was founded on this principle: to strengthen collaboration between the education sector and the work field and to stimulate innovation in the region. Organisations can contribute their own knowledge and challenges whilst benefiting from the expertise and experience within the network.

The PSV project is a concrete example of this. By bringing together different areas of expertise and perspectives, space is created for new insights and applications.

For organisations wishing to innovate, share knowledge and connect with future talent, SPARC offers a network to turn ideas into concrete collaborations and innovations.