Nike Sport Research Lab

The competitive advantage is what every person and company is aspiring for. Everybody wants to be that little bit better than their competition. With the increasing number of sports brands and their ability to reach large sales figures, it is fitting that Nike created the NSRL (Nike Research Sports Lab).

“The Nike Sport Research Lab (NSRL) is philosophically and physically at the heart of the Nike World Headquarters campus in Oregon. The 30+ women and men working on the discoveries of tomorrow aren’t sequestered in an underground lair or otherwise toiling away in obscurity. They anchor the foundation floor of the Mia Hamm building, the epicenter of Nike design expertise. From there they collaborate with clusters of designers upstairs to bring to market products that take athletic performance beyond the next level. ” (nikebiz.com)

The NSRL is led by an ex NASA astronaut advisor, Mario Lafortune. In 1996 Mario gathered the best sports researchers in the business and established his Nike Lab. This lab is special because it is not run by your typical lab coat scientists. These scientists are ex-athletes who have expereinced the ups and downs of athletic competition.

These scientists study every aspect of the athlete. Including biomechanics, physiology and sensory/perception.

“To do all this, the scientists have an incredible array of measurement and analysis tools. Their data collection includes virtually every variety of muscle sensor, pressure platform, breath analyzer, foot scanner and thermal imaging device that has ever fluttered into the sci-fi imaginings of the most psychotic geek researcher. Two of the most striking are the high-speed video cameras that capture soccer kick data at 1,000 frames per second and the scanner that produces in just seconds a perfect 3D digital image of your foot, even if you’re a size 22, as was one recent visitor. (nikebiz.com).”

By creating the NSRL, Nike have set the benchmark for all other sports brands. With the amount of funds available to Nike; it is inevitable they create the resources needed in order to have the competitive advantage.