BT Sport announce winner of Innovate 21 competition

The lucky winners will get the chance to work with BT Sport

After a rigorous judging process, BT Sport have announced that AriSports as the winners of their Innovate 21 competition, rewarding the entrepreneurship and innovation behind their match-prediction platform. The brainchild of co-founders Rassim and Djewed Hariz, AriSports' platform allows football fans to predict on-pitch events, earning points in the process and competing against friends. It includes a fantasy trading element, where fans can collect and own unique digital cards of their favourite football players. The cards can increase in value, depending on the player’s real-life performances and correct predictions from the owner of the card. As the winner of Innovate 21, AriSports will now have the opportunity to work with BT Sport to develop its technology for future use. Previous winners of the award include Sceenic, who worked with BT Sport to support last year’s launch of Watch Together service on the BT Sport App. Jamie Hindhaugh, chief operating officer, BT Sport, said: "We were extremely impressed by the quality and ingenuity of the innovations on display at the Innovate 21 final. I would like to congratulate AriSports on being crowned worthy winners. Its proposal is an ambitious platform that will offer fans an immersive experience and we look forward to working with them in helping harness its potential." Rassim Hariz, chairman, AriSports, said: "Special thanks to BT Sport for this great award, we look forward to working with their team. The process was very competitive and we are honoured to be the winners of Innovate 21. For us, it has been two years in the making and I would like to thank all our technical, product development and business development team. Working with BT Sport, and knowing their innovation track record, is fully aligned with our identity and ambitions in applying our world-first technology for immersive fantasy gaming on live content."