HITIQ shares soar almost 10% on US college football deal

HITIQ has scored a touchdown in its bid to break into the lucrative US college football market with its mouthguard impact sensor technology being deployed in six key FBS division one programs.

It’s game on for concussion management technology HITIQ (ASX:HIQ) which has announced a US college football program to capture all head impacts by more than 100 players across training and games for the upcoming 2021 season.

HITIQ will deploy its concussion management technology with six Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) division one US college football programs for around six months from September in a bid to quantify and profile head impacts experienced in collegiate level American football players.

The FBS is the highest level of college football in the US. Tulane University, University of Tulsa, Georgia Tech University, University of Tennessee and University of South Carolina and Brigham Young University have all signed up to the program.

US college football a key target market

The collegiate American football market, with close to 900 programs, and 100,000 participating players, represents a significant component of HITIQ’s targeted US market.

The initial partnership program lays the foundation for a strong push into the college football customer market across the USA in the early calendar year 2022.

The head impact data collected during the program supports HITIQ’s strategic growth plan of collating ongoing data from diverse market segments. The data will be fed into HITIQ’s high-value global database, which forms part of its core technology platform.

Momentum grows in HITIQ’s high-tech mouthguard impact sensor

As concerns continue to mount globally about the incidence of sport-related concussion and potential health ramifications for athletes, interest in HITIQ continues to gain momentum.

The company, which was founded in 2016, is committed to data-led solutions for concussion. The company’s high-tech impact sensors collect data from a player’s mouth to help medical staff identify, measure and manage players after concussion related injuries.

HITIQ announced a deal with Bupa Dental for a trial of its concussion management technology with junior rugby players in July. It is the first time a hi-tech mouthguard impact sensor technology has been made available to junior rugby players in Australia to monitor head impacts, with the aim of enhancing grassroots concussion safety protocols.

HITIQ has also signed a landmark deal for its concussion management technology which is currently being used by professional players in the AFL and AFLW.

At the time of writing the HITIQ share price was up 9.38% to 18 cents.