Sevilla FC showcases its innovation projects at the annual convention organized by IBM in the United States
This week, club representatives travelled to Boston for IBM’s biggest convention of the year, the IBM Think 2024. The event showcases industry leaders that have enjoyed success with technological information and the use of data in sporting management.
Elías Zamora, the club’s Chief Data Officer, was invited as a guest speaker to discuss the launch of Scout Advisor. The tool uses IBM’s generative AI platform, watsonx, to sort through scouting databases quickly and efficiently, turning data into comprehensible language.
Zamora said, “Talent cannot be identifed purely through data and statistics, it is important that human opinions are involved too. At Sevilla FC we have one of the biggest scouting networks in the world and we use the technology to combine data with our scouts’ judgements. We are using technology to supplement human knowledge so that we get the most out of our scouting network.”
In addition, the visit to the USA was used to further enhance the club’s relationship with IBM. Zamora had a meeting with the company’s Senior Vice President and Director of Research, Darío Gil, to discuss the possibility of future collaboration.
We also had the opportunity to learn about the technological projects of other sports entities in attendance, such as Major League Baseball teams the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox, as well as the NBA’s Boston Celtics and Mexican football club Chivas de Guadalajara.