The Kollide consortium, made up of four Quebec companies, was recognized by the NFL on Sunday because it is one of the three winners of the “Helmet Challenge” competition on the Goodell circuit. The work is far from over, however, before possibly seeing its technology on a player’s head, in a real game.
The group, which includes the companies Tactix, Kupol, Numalogics and Shapeshift 3D, in addition to being allied with the École de technologie supérieure, received a scholarship of US $ 550,000 (or approximately CAN $ 680,000), at the end of of the tests carried out on his helmet. This amount will allow it to continue developing its technology for the next year.
“The objective in the next year is to refine our prototype, to work on the structures,” said the coordinator of the Kollide project, Franck Le Navéaux. We submitted a prototype and the goal, at the end of next year, is to have a commercial solution; it means who performs well and who also meets the needs of NFL players. ”
The consortium sees several new challenges before it, including that of presenting a product that will be safer for players, but also loved and accepted by them. Obviously, it will be about creating a final product worn on the grounds of the NFL.
Kollide has also sought the advice of two players from the Canadian Football League, among others, during the past year, to refine certain aspects of his model. The Quebec group now wants to get the advice of more football players, including some from the NFL, to continue improving their helmets.
“It is the demonstration of the performances that we have made and that we are going to do that will guide the commercial strategy,” added Le Navéaux. We will do everything to ensure that this technology ends up on the heads of the players. […] I imagine that within two years, it would be realistic to see certified, personalized helmets, and that we could find them on the heads of players. ”
From zero to pioneer
The challenge promised to be great for Kollide when he entered the competition in 2019. The expertise of each of his four companies was not specifically in the field of the safety of a professional athlete through his equipment. However, he rose to it hands down, beating among others some major equipment manufacturers for whom it is their specialty, such as the other two winners of the competition, Xenith (US $ 496,500) and Impressio (US $ 454,000. ), two American companies that received a lower scholarship.
“It is a great pride. We are happy to have believed in ourselves. It was a sprint. In one year, we started from scratch to develop a helmet, admitted Le Navéaux. It was a lot of effort. We are very proud that our technology is recognized. ”
«[Nous sommes] four small Montreal companies which have niche expertise, but which have very large expertise, all together. They promote this entrepreneurial and collaborative spirit that we can have in Quebec. We are small, but we managed to make it big. ”
For other sports?
While the competition was specifically about NFL helmets, however, the technology used by Kollide could be useful in several sports that allow contact and therefore require helmets, such as hockey.
“What we have developed during this year is a working method. It is a method to be able to design a product and test it under realistic conditions, specified the project coordinator. It was in impact conditions, from helmet to helmet, but this method, we can apply it to other sports, for other types of impact, for other types of collisions and to have a technology. suitable for a sport, optimized for that sport. We have all the tools to tackle other issues. ”
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