In a few years, the Benjamin
St-Juste, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Antony Auclair and Pier-Olivier Lestage may be wearing helmets designed in Quebec.
There is no guarantee, but the idea is not far-fetched either. The prototype football helmet presented by the Kollide consortium – made up of four local companies, in collaboration with the École de technologie supérieure (ETS) – has achieved better results in the NFL safety tests … than those that are currently in use on the Goodell circuit grounds.
PHOTO HUGUES RIVEST, SUPPLIED BY KOLLIDE
The team of the Kollide consortium, established in Montreal, one of the three winners of the NFL Helmet Challenge. From left to right: Franck Le Navéaux, Éric Gaudreau, David Benoit, Bastien Jourde, Gabriel Boutin, Dustin Arless, Yvan Petit, Martin Laberge, Hugues Rivest and Eric Wagnac.
That was the goal of the NFL Helmet Challenge. The competition, launched in 2019, aims to accelerate the design of safer helmets for athletes. The issue of concussions in football is well documented. And it has cost the League hundreds of millions in lawsuits from former players.
Working on a safer helmet for the NFL, then, is a bit like the Everest of sports equipment manufacturing.
“That’s why we embarked on this challenge,” says Franck Le Navéaux, spokesperson and coordinator of the NFL Helmet Challenge project at Kollide.
About two years ago, the companies Tactix, Kupol, Numalogics and SS3D got together in order to prepare a project that would stand out.
Mission accomplished. In 2020, among a hundred groups – companies or universities – who proposed their concept and presented their team, Kollide received one of the four scholarships provided by the NFL. A check for US $ 230,000 for the development of a first prototype. Nine other companies have decided to continue the adventure without financial aid from the League.
The 13 groups were due to submit their helmets to the NFL last July for tests to meet circuit standards, conducted by an independent laboratory. At the end of these, the League selected three, including Kollide, who will receive a second grant to further their research. This time, the amount allocated to Quebecers is US $ 550,000.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY KOLLIDE
The helmet developed by the Kollide consortium
PHOTO PROVIDED BY KOLLIDE
The helmet developed by the Kollide consortium
PHOTO PROVIDED BY KOLLIDE
The helmet developed by the Kollide consortium
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The Montreal consortium was awarded the highest envelope of the three finalists. The other two are current OEMs: Xenith and a consortium that includes a major player, Schutt Sports.
“It was a bet for us to tell ourselves:
“OK, we invest these resources, material, financial and human, to try in one year to design a helmet”, admits Franck Le Navéaux. This second grant gives us fuel to go even further. And also, it strengthens our ability to produce technologies that are likely to revolutionize protective equipment. ”
235 concussions per season
A revolution is precisely what the NFL wants.
“The NFL Helmet Challenge aspires to a revolution, not just an evolution,” Jeff Miller, NFL senior vice president for communications and public affairs, said Monday when the three winners were unveiled.
The league averages 235 concussions per year on its grounds, a figure that includes preseason games and practice. These data would perhaps be judged to fall short of reality by independent experts. But these are the official NFL numbers.
The second grant, which Kollide will receive shortly, is to be used to refine his helmet. To go from a prototype to a product that can be marketed.
In the end, however, it is not the League itself which will opt, or not, for the use of the Quebec helmet. Through its competition, the NFL wants to “stimulate and support” innovation, specifies Mr. Le Navéaux.
Important nuance: the League has the power to ban helmets – those who do not pass its tests successfully -, but not the power to impose, underlines the spokesperson for Kollide. Teams and players are free to choose from the authorized products.
So nothing is taken for granted for the consortium, despite the current successes. But it is a good omen.
“We know that the NFL will always push for players to wear the best helmets. So it’s up to us to do the work, ”argues Franck Le Navéaux.
In six months, the three finalists will have to present a new version to the NFL, then another in a year.
“Because they want to monitor how we evolve in our prototype,” he explains.
Impression 3D
The reason for the competition remains the prevention of concussions. The decrease in their severity, at the very least. But, ultimately, the aesthetics, the weight and all the criteria that can influence the performance of the player will also count in the life or death of Kollide’s product.
Anyway, even if the competition did not lead the Quebec consortium – the only Canadian group among the hundred at the start – in the locker room of the NFL, it will not stop there for all that.
Because of its innovative approach, which uses 3D printing for the manufacture of its “architectural” pads – to the detriment of simple foam – Kollide intends to extend it to equipment for other sports. And not just to pieces worn on the head.
“We could include it in boxing gloves, shin guards, back protectors for motorcycles,” lists Franck Le Navéaux. There would be plenty of apps. There are a lot of beautiful things, I think, that are going to come out of that. ”
