Technology must be placed front and centre in initiatives to get communities moving if the health and fitness sector is to overcome the UK’s inactivity epidemic, according to a new white paper.

The paper, What roles can technology play in promoting community physical activity? is the result of a roundtable discussion among industry representatives on the role technology plays in engaging communities in physical activity.

The burgeoning fitness technology is currently booming, with wearable tech expected to triple in value over the next 10 years, but despite this, levels of inactivity across the population remain alarmingly high. As a result, the Technogym panel believes a more unified, multi-agency approach that maximises the potential of technology to reach across society is needed to remedy the current malaise.

Their thoughts echo those of the Fitness Industry Technology Council (FIT-C), which at IHRSA 2015 called for greater collaboration between operators, suppliers and technology firms to capitalise on the socioeconomic opportunities afforded by fitness technology.

The Technogym panel agreed that there was latent potential in the use of technology to engage both specific and wider communities in activity. Another area of consensus was that technology holds the key in creating “big data” that can be used to properly understand the UK’s physical activity landscape. Closer collaboration was called for between local authorities and private providers to create wider-reaching initiatives and share examples of best practice and innovation.

To read the full recommendations of the report, click here.

Chaired by Wired Magazine product editor, Jeremy White, the roundtable brought together:

Emma Lax, Women in Sport, campaigns manager

Kieran Alger, Mediablaze, group editor in chief

Adam Dewji, Sportable, co-founder

Aya Ahmad, Sportable, co-founder

Robert Mattar, Teamer, CEO

Kelly Lickley, Skills Active, operations director

Adrian Leah, Central Bedfordshire Council, head of leisure

Debra Marden, Central Bedfordshire Council, communities physical activities manager

Mark Talley, Everyone Active, group fitness development manager

Alex Bennett, Technogym, marketing director