Keynote SpeakersDr Erez Morag is a sports tech innovator.
Erez is the former Head of Global Football Research at Nike.
While at Nike’s headquarters in Oregon (1998-2011), Erez contributed to four unprecedented start-ups within the company.
He was recruited initially to lead innovation research in the multi-billion dollar global football and women’s fitness industries.
After a successful run with product innovations, he founded programs that linked product and business innovation, such as Nike Football+.
Nike Football+ offered a complete consumer-centric performance solution that merged the physical and digital worlds, creating football communities in over 25 countries worldwide.
Furthermore, Dr Morag founded the Athlete Performance Insight Group, a program that harnesses the skills of superstar athletes to develop high-quality product innovation. Top athletes are invited to the Nike Sport Research Lab to study their techniques and develop products to enhance their performances.
In this role, Erez Morag worked with dozens of elite athletes including:
- Footballers – Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Oliver Bierhoff, and Mia Hamm
- Basketball all-stars – Russell Westbrook and Manu Ginobili
- NFL greats – Larry Fitzgerald, Troy Polamalu and Greg Jennings
- Olympic gold medalists – Liu Xiang, Allison Felix and Sanya Richards
- Tennis legends – Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer
Dr Morag conducted his postdoctoral research at Rush Medical Center, Chicago. He also pioneered a workshop for Chicago public school teachers on using sports to teach science and math.
Erez earned his doctoral degree from Pennsylvania State University in Exercise and Sports Science and holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Illinois.
He has received prestigious awards for his scientific work, teaching, and innovation. Furthermore, he has been awarded 29 patents.
Erz is currently Chief Innovation Officer for Playermaker – providing next-generation player development solutions for football academies.
Dr Erez Morag – Keynote Speaker
Erez Morag inspires business leaders, engineers, entrepreneurs, and students to use sport science principles to enhance their businesses.
His keynote speaking engagements have included:
- The financial sector (Eurofinance, Societe Generale Group, ANZ Bank)
- High tech sector (Intel, Oracle, HP, Applied Materials, SAP, Texas Instruments, Checkpoint, etc.)
- Biotech sector (Abbvie Pharmaceutical, Covidien)
- Telecom sector (Cellbrite, Partner Communications)
- Education sector (Harvard Business School, Willamette University)
- Advertising sector (McCann Erickson)
- Sports Sector (The National Football League, Australian Sport Tech Network)
Sports-Inspired Strategies for Career and Business Success:
There are many similarities between world-class athletes and top business executives.
They are competitive, they are willing to work hard to be successful, they are continually trying to improve their teams, and they always look for a competitive edge. Hence, many of the metaphors used in the boardroom are derived from sports.
Using examples from his experience of working with the world’s best athletes, Erez offers a fascinating presentation of lessons about excellence that are inspired by athletes, embedded in science and applied to successful business initiatives.
Play Bigger Than Your Size:
This talk is inspired by great athletes that play ‘bigger than their size’, such as Carles Puyol and Troy Polamalu.
Dr Morag describes the key factors that will allow your team or company to ‘play bigger than it’s size‘ to compete successfully in the marketplace.
Faster and Smarter:
Just as athletes in the world of sport have become quicker and more competitive, so has the world of business.
Erez takes a global perspective on how to be faster and more competitive in the marketplace through innovation, training, and a continual focus on improvement.
He demonstrates how principles in speed training can be applied to business innovation.
By learning to think about speed as a system, delegates leave with new ideas to improve the speed and quality of innovation within their organisation.
Like relay runners, your team is capable of more than the individual speed of its members. Dr Morag explains how the speed of thought, decision-making, ideation, and speed to the market will enable your team to effectively “pass the baton” at top speed, increasing the overall performance and potential of new products and innovations.
Breakout Sessions:
Erez’s talks can be complemented by a breakout session during which participants can experience a sports science activity followed by a business implementation exercise.
