Sports Technology Evaluation Framework
22 October 2025
In this presentation Sports Technology Evaluation Framework – How the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) evaluates technology, Nicole and Jayde talk about the Australian Institute of Sport’s (AIS) Sport Technology Evaluation Framework: a standardised, evidence-based decision-making framework for evaluating the value, usability, and quality of sports technology. Creating a structure to effectively and efficiently evaluate technologies is an area of increasing need for many sports internal and external stakeholders. This robust process to evaluate technology has been produced to help to promote well-considered and transparent decision-making around technology choices and reduce negative effects such as low return on investment or technology misuse.
Presenters:
- Nicole Townsend, Australian Sports Commission
- Jayde Haycraft, Victoria University
Open Access - Available to the public
Biographies
Nicole Townsend
Nicole is the Quality Assurance Lead at the AIS and has over 15 years’ experience supporting high performance sport practitioners to drive quality practice and continuous improvement initiatives. She brings experience in establishing robust quality assurance processes, that give confidence to performance support staff, athletes, and coaches that measurement data collected and used to inform decisions is valid, accurate and reliable. Nicole’s passion lies in elevating the quality of practice across high performance sport, embedding evidence informed practices and supporting a culture of trust and transparency.
Jayde Haycraft
Jade Haycraft is a multidisciplinary sport scientist and research operations specialist who leads the FIFA–Victoria University research team within the Institute for Health and Sport (IHeS), contributing to FIFA’s Electronic Performance Tracking Systems Quality Programme. She also serves as Operations Lead for the Institute for Sports Tech Standards (ISTS) and is an active member of the Sports Tech Research Network (STRN) special interest group, with both groups focused on driving the adoption of quality technology in sport. Jade has extensive experience managing complex global projects, including multi-site testing, stakeholder engagement, logistics, and reporting, and she supervises PhD and Masters students in industry-embedded sport performance projects with partners such as FIFA, the Western Bulldogs, and the Olympic & Paralympic Research Centre. With a research background spanning talent identification, strength and conditioning, and biomechanics, her current focus is on the quality evaluation of sports technology, working with industry to develop evidence-based frameworks that guide the design, validation, and implementation of quality technologies across the global sport landscape.
