RIMNET Won 2nd Place at ThinkSport’s "Future of Play 2026"
May 10, 2026
We are excited to share some great news: in its first year since launch, RIMNET has been awarded 2nd Place at the Sport Innovation Challenge: The Future of Play 2026.
Organized by ThinkSport (founded by the International Olympic Committee and the Canton of Vaud) and Anthropy, the competition brought together over 100 startups to rethink youth engagement, health, and inclusion in sports.
The RIMNET team pitched live at the finals held at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, presenting to decision-makers, sports federations, and investors. As their technology partner, we are proud to see the platform get this level of recognition.
Congratulations to the RIMNET team for a successful pitch and a pioneering idea! Thank you for a great partnership, and we are incredibly proud of the joint effort we put in to build the app this year. But most importantly, thanks to the players out there using RIMNET to improve their game.
Why RIMNET Stood Out
Youth sports face challenges with rising costs and screen-time distractions. We built the RIMNET cross-platform mobile application using Flutter, along with its scalable backend infrastructure, to help address this problem.
By leveraging Flutter, we were able to rapidly integrate complex, cross-platform AI tracking with rich RPG-style gamification, turning a standard hoop into an interactive game. This approach allowed us to deliver a high-performance, native experience for both iOS and Android users without the overhead of maintaining two separate codebases—giving the RIMNET team the speed and scalability they needed.
What ultimately won the judges over was the platform’s ability to drastically lower the barrier to entry for youth sports. In a market increasingly dominated by expensive wearables, smart-balls, and proprietary sensors, RIMNET democratizes advanced sports technology. By relying entirely on the smartphone already in a player’s pocket, the app ensures that kids and teenagers from all backgrounds can access engaging, data-driven training—perfectly aligning with the competition’s core mission of inclusion and health.
What’s Next: Looking Back, Moving Forward
Taking 2nd place is a great milestone! With this win, the RIMNET team has entered the Tech4Sport Accelerator program in Lausanne. As they work with International Sports Federations to scale the platform globally, our role remains focused on the tech. We will continue providing technical support, optimizing the infrastructure, and maintaining the app as the user base grows.
Join the Game!
If you haven’t tried it yet, grab your basketball and head to the court! You can learn more at the official RIMNET website, or download the app today from App Store or Google Play.
Also don’t forget to keep up with the team’s latest updates by following RIMNET on Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.
Stay tuned — we have more work to do! 🏀