The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) recently hosted the second national workshop in Canberra as part of the Future of Australian Sport research project.

The workshop brought together high performance sports leaders and experts to discuss a range of current and emerging megatrends likely to impact sport over the next 30 years.

The Future of Australian Sport research project is a joint initiative between the Australian Sports Commission and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

Participating organisations in the workshop included universities, national sporting organisations, state Institutes of Sport, the Australian Institute of Sport and peak sport bodies such as the Australian Olympic Committee, the Australian Paralympic Committee and the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority.

The workshop was facilitated by Dr Stefan Hajkowicz from the CSIRO and provided delegates an opportunity to share ideas, expertise and network with peers while exploring potential opportunities and challenges that might arise from megatrends and their impact on high performance sport.

The ASC is working in collaboration with partners within the sport sector to identify megatrends, which is vital to planning and shaping the future success of Australian sport.

The workshop explored a number of key questions including:

• Which sports is Australia likely to gain a competitive advantage in the future?
• What is needed to ensure the best chances of success? 
• Who are our emerging competitors?

Key findings from the study are expected to be published in June 2012. For further information, see the reference video captured from the study’s first national workshop in January 2012 examining megatrends that may shape the ‘whole of sport’ pathway.