The ten-week Business of Sport program will support sportstech entrepreneurs, athletes and researchers to validate their sportstech business idea against competitors, vendors and venture capitalists, according to the network.

The program is being delivered in association with the Global Sports Innovation Center.

Applicants from Victoria and Queensland are being prioritised due to support from LaunchVic and the Queensland Government Department of Tourism, Innovation and Sport, but applications from entrepreneurs in other states and territories are welcome.

"This is one of the very few industry-specific programs offering best-practice, world-class content developed with educators and practitioners in Silicon Valley. We encourage startup entrepreneurs, athletes and founders who have a technology-based idea and are considering establishing a business to apply," said ASTN director and board member Dr Martin Schlegel.

According to the network, its pre-accelerator program – organised as 20 sessions over 10 weeks – has shown it can save sportstech entrepreneurs time, reduce effort and open access to further pathways.

Apart from those benefits, those who complete the program receive a one-year ASTN membership and can have their business listed in the ASTN Sportstech Directory. Participants can also become eligible to apply for the follow on ASTN programs.

"Traditionally, Australian-born sports technology has focused on on-the-field human performance technologies. The Business of Sport attempts to widen the eligibility to include fitness, wellness and health," said Schlegel.

"At ASTN we believe that sport is an application rather than a sector and we encourage startups that explore technology applications – from software/apps and machine learning to robotics, virtual reality and big data analytics – to make the most of this program."

He pointed out that ASTN's startup accelerator program has found some applicants lacking in the area of customer discovery, market & competitor analysis and business model evaluation, and The Business of Sport aims to address that gap.

It also involves interactive Q&A sessions with representatives of leading international and Australian sports businesses, an introduction to the notion of using sport as a validation platform before expanding or switching to other verticals, mentoring, and connecting with local partners for recruitment and cross pollination.

For more information and to apply, see https://astn.com.au/pre-accelerator/.