26/04/2023
CEO and founder Paulina Sołtysiak shares more about Higgsone - why now, how is the market responding, what role does AI play in the solution, risk and reward of using the tech. 💡
Text translated from Weszlo.com, "AI a pomoc medyczna sportowcom. „AI w medycynie przesunie pierwszą linię obrony”" by Kamil Warzocha.
Q: I feel like your technology - aiming to reduce the risk of sports injury - sounds too futuristic by the Polish market's current standards.
A: Well, if we look at the NBA, we can see that some systems appear on the Polish market with a really big delay. A good example would be the Catapult technology, used by pretty much every football club. We've only had it for a couple of years, but the company has existed since 2006. European clubs introduced it way, way earlier than we have in Poland. After doing dome research, I found that, even though we have access to tools like that, many clubs just don't know how to utilise them properly. Not the most diplomatic of answers, but, unfortunately, that's just how it is. That's why it's worth taking the time to keep an eye on what the rest of the world and other football leagues with massive budgets are doing, as well as pay attention to the access to the most advanced technologies. The NBA's got movement analysis technologies capable of determining which position on the field the user would work best at. How? It's a matter of how much data they can collect, aided by AI. Much like our smart suit, really.
Generally speaking, Poland lags behind on this field. This is not a matter of us trying to convince clubs and athletes to use our technology. This is about the country's development as a whole. It's more difficult in Poland, which is why we usually deal with a larger European market, which is more open to . That's where our really has a chance to work its way into the general consciousness, even reach bigger brands. When we get someone's attention, we simply put on our suits and show just what our systems can do.
Q: So you're not just selling 'new and improved pots and pans'.
A: Absolutely not. We're a tech company made up largely of scientists. Let's imagine I had a great sales and marketing division, doing an amazing job of advertising our clothes as a 'lifeboat for every athlete'. Alright, but that would only really last a single season. It would be very easy to fact-check that our suits is just not what we'd be saying it is. Which is why I don't pursue strategies that can't defend themselves. Sure, our technology makes a difference, but I want it to be something that stays in the public eye for longer. Become a staple for the public, not shine brighter only to burn out quicker, not just be another 'new and improved' knickknack. Taking a look at the market, you can see that the things with value, that actually provide a useful addition to a process, these things remain. I'm not trying to blind anyone with inflated claims to achieve that, although, of course, appropriate marketing is something we don't eschew.
Q: And how does that marketing translate to interest?
A: In the beginning, clubs are curious about our system, because we can produce data they often don't have access to. And right now, in big sports clubs, data is highly sought-after. Analyst and programist divisions are created. It's already started, because we've reached the peak of human capability. It's hard to imagine people getting even faster, stronger, eduring even more. Records have been set in stone. Now we look for advantage somewhere else. I though clubs like Legia [Warsaw], Raków [Częstochowa] or L**h [Poznań] would be less open to innovation, but now I see the best of the best start to look into the opportunity awarded my modern tech, also that based on .
Q: Your solution is pretty niche, like many in your field.
A: Right now, more and more AI-based are being founded, dealing in, say, camera footage analysis. The leader in that filed is ReSpo VIsion. Generally speaking, many European clubs use these sorts of technologies, although most of them fairly similar to one another, so there are still gaps to fill. We at Higgsone are one of those niches. We combat the problem of sports injury, deal in early prevention. There aren't too many tools like that on the market. I have yet to see a product like ours, so far I've only found detached elements of what our solution is, so clubs are interested. Although we have to admit there is a barrier to progress, because the athlete has to physically put on our clothes. On the other hand, though, when they hear it's going to help them avoid injury, these doubts swiftly disappear.
Q: And what is the response of healthcare professionals? Doctors, physical therapists, and so on?
A: The medical field is our biggest ally. We have the easiest time talking about our solution with those experienced in . One of the doctors, Maciej Tabiszewki, who's worked with players from L**h, Legia, and the Polish national league, is very optimistic about our product. He's very interested in tracking movement patterns and sees how valuable our tech can be there. I, myself, had to undergo knee surgery in the past, I come back for medical check-ups and answer questions about the field I work in. When doctors hear about Higgsone, they ask me to bring the suit with me next time, so they can see it in action.
Medical professionals understand our mission. For them, athlete health will always be the number one priority. And if there's a way to minimize the risk of injury, they're willing to give it a shot. We do a preliminary body functions check using out smart clothes, which, aside from injury prevention, allows for facilitating the data collection process. We've even cross-referenced out results with those provided by physical therapists. The results were positive, even though this was the part we were most worried about - the potential inaccuracy of our results. But we're in the clear, meaning our suits can be used by doctors to aid the decision making process when deciding whether to let the player go back on the field following an injury or to give them a little more time.
Q: So is it set in stone that the Higgsone solution will use AI technologies?
A: Our AI system isn't super intelligent just yet. It can show where a result differes from the norm and alert of the change, but it's still the doctor's job to interpret the results. To put it plainly - AI is a bonus feature. In other fields, AI technologies can learn quickly, develop. That's not a priority for us. We want out tech to learn the chain of events leading to, say, cruciate ligament injury. If the AI sees an X number of these occurences, it will get better at diagnosing it.
This is where an important question comes in: should we let artificial intelligence make decisions regarding our health? Of course, two-step verification will still be at play for a long time, this kind of trust simply isn't there yet. Even now, we're seeing doubts regarding how trustworthy AI really is. Even if we have solid data and rigorous works on comparison of AI data vs specialist diagnoses, that doubt still lingers. It's an obvious obstacle, following our obvious first - the necessity to put our clothes, which, admittedly, aren't cheap, on. There is a lot at play, many elements embedded into the suit, so, at the moments, it's not a solution fit for everybody. And it's natural to start analysing how much you really need something the more expensive it is.
Q: To finish off - what about flaws? There have to be some.
A: What we're afraid of, as a company, is the sensitivity of the data. Our technology collects information about injury occurence, the preparedness - or lack thereof - of the player for a game, which makes it easy to use against someone, to exclude them from taking part. That's the biggest danger. Let's imagine a scenario here: a player shows up for trials to join a new club, and their assessment is all the more rigorous thanks to Higgsone's tech. The players received feedback stating that our AI confirmed the medical team's decision to decline transfer. On the one hand, it helps the club avoid risks, but on the other - can be very problematic for the assessed individual. Another story whatsoever is the club receiving data on a detected disfunction and deciding to use it for their own purposes.
I listened to this podcast by the head doctor at Manchester United. He gave the red light when asked about a specific, very famous player (whose name was not given). He said that in-depth tests conducted using advanced tech showed a great risk of a serious injury in two years' time. The club decided to pull that player from the field and transfer them before the period of increased risk comes. It's very sad, especially as the player wasn't informed of any of this. This is just the norm, not ever club will give you the data collected during specialist tests of your own body.
