Coopetition: cooperation among competitors to enhance applied research and drive innovation in elite sport

The essence of competition is often understood as a situation of mutually exclusive goal attainment, where one side succeeds only if another does not. However, and as studied by the game theory, this standard view may be too narrow and simplistic when trying to understand complex interactions.1 Researchers in business and management have expanded on this and explored cases of simultaneous cooperation and competition (ie, coopetition) as the most complex but advantageous relationship among competitors and as an effective strategy to drive innovation.2 Scientific innovation can be crucial for maximising athletes’ health and performance, which has resulted in a growing interest in sports science and medicine (SSM). Innovation through research helps develop training models, medical treatments and recovery methods3 but the practical relevance of some fundamental studies is often hindered by their poor ecological validity. Tightly controlled conditions can create an artificial sample of athletes and circumstances which are not truly representative of daily practice, allowing for the gap between research and practice to persist. Applied research aims to bridge that gap by developing ecologically valid evidence and can be further enhanced by embedding ‘off-field’ …