CORE ESSENTIAL
Seamlessly Integrated Smart Kite Sports Equipment for Lifelong Active Participation
Kiteboarding remains technically demanding for beginners because key components such as the kite, board, harness and control bar are typically engineered and purchased as separate products. This creates complexity in setup, handling and progression, increasing the perceived risk and time needed to become competent.
At the same time, the sport needs more accessible equipment to reach broader user groups, including younger and older beginners, and to support continued participation over a longer active lifetime. Manufacturers also face pressure to improve material sustainability, develop more flexible production methods, and use real market and rider data more systematically in product development.
The project will create the Essential product line as a seamlessly interoperable kiteboarding system based on a new coupling/interface technology connecting the main equipment elements. Instead of optimising individual components in isolation, the consortium will engineer the full rider-equipment system to simplify setup, handling and progression.
Sustainability and manufacturability will be built into the prototype development through recycled and reprocessed materials, recyclable design concepts and design-for-disassembly. A smart data layer will connect rider/product-use data with structured market research data, enabling AI-supported feedback into R&D and production.
A further prototype layer will explore product tracking and self-coaching via a companion app, giving riders feedback on performance and learning progress. This supports the central goal of reducing the learning barrier and making the sport more approachable.
The consortium will design and prototype the Essential kite, board, harness and control bar as a single integrated product line, including the development and validation of the new coupling/interface technology. It will carry out materials R&D using recycled and reprocessed waste inputs, integrate design-for-disassembly principles, and test the resulting prototypes in relevant use environments.
Partners will develop supporting production and personalisation capabilities required by the new product architecture and materials. Market research and user-data activities will be conducted in international test markets, combining external rider and market feedback with internal product-use data.
The project will also develop a prototype smart tracking and self-coaching layer, including on-product data capture and a companion app concept to help riders monitor progress and learn more independently. The collected data will feed an AI-enabled feedback loop linking product use, market signals, R&D and production decisions.
.png)
