Thank you for visiting the website of the Asian Forum on Sports Innovation.  We have now completed the first edition to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Its two integrated streams, 'professional sports dynamics' and 'sports and development', covered sports issues of critical importance to private sector sponsors and Corporate Social Responsibility funders of athletes, clubs and sports competitions; government policy makers at national and regional levels; and all stakeholders in sports administration, athlete management and revenue raising.

The Indonesian conference, on 30 July 2007 at The Sultan Hotel Jakarta, coincided with the Sunday evening Grand Final of the Asian Football Confederation’s prestigious Asian Cup [from left: AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam and FIFA President Joseph S Blatter greet Right to Play's CEO, Johann Olav Koss] and attracted to Indonesia a remarkable agenda of some of the most outstanding international speakers on sports, development, marketing and sponsorship and corporate social responsibility.

These included David Winiger [above] Special Assistant to Dr Adolf Ogi, the Special Advisor on Sport and Development and Peace to the United Nations Secretary-General.  The mandate of the Special Adviser is oriented not only towards the world of sport, sports industries and governments, but also towards UN organisations in charge of development and peace-making -keeping and enforcement, to see which activities and programs can benefit from a partnership with sports organisations ...

Johann Olav Koss, multiple gold medal Olympian and CEO of Right To Play, the international NGO leading the use of sports and play for the development of children youth. Today Right To Play has projects in over 20 countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. It uses specially designed sport and play programs to teach life skills, peace building and health education to children affected by war, poverty and disease... 

Clare Kenny Tipton, fresh from managing Asia’s biggest and most complex sports tournament, the Asian Football Confederation’s Asian Cup 2007 which involved 16 teams playing 33 matches in eight stadiums in four countries, outlines the scope for development, the opportunities, challenges, realities and possible rewards for sports in Asia. The growth of Asian Football is her mission. The AFC's Deputy General Secretary, Director of Marketing and Director of Media and Communications, she backed AFC’s claim that the future of football is Asia  ...

Dez Corkhill, Television Producer, News Editor and Director of Content for www.espnstar.com is also ESPN Star Sport’s sometimes controversial The Top Corner presenter and commentator on Asian domestic football. He rightly said, "the best of the action is right on your doorstep" but they must communicate ... 

The seminar was also fortunate to have a broad presentation in a historical context on Indonesia sports sponsorship and Corporate Social Responsibility opportunities by Fritz E Simandjuntak, Vice President of the Indonesian Marketing Association and Head of External Relations of the Rajawali Group ...

And two excellent local case studies on the progressive social role of sports presented to an international audience for the first time:

Said Fauzan Baabud, UNDP Livelihoods Program Officer in Indonesia’s tsunami-disaster struck province of Aceh on sports and youth empowerment as a crucial element in post-disaster rehabilitation work and

Anton Inbenai, Dept of Sport and Youth, Jayapura City, and Henk Rumbewas, international  representative for  KONI Indonesian National Sports Committee (Papua) who discussed the Persipura Football Club’s role in HIV/AIDS and safe-sex awareness  campaigns.

Presentation documents will be progressively added to the site as well as media report links and notices of future events.

- Geoffrey Gold, Convenor

geoffreygold@footballdynamics.com