A tech strategy that needs to be ahead of its time

Picture the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games (LA28 Games), and what do you see? Chances are, it’s people—athletes, fans, supporters—coming together to witness incredible human athleticism on the world’s biggest stage. But behind the eagerly anticipated event will be a massive technology infrastructure enabling the Games. It’s an exceptional feat of human ingenuity, executed on a similarly massive scale.

LA28 had been conceived as “a new Games for a new era,” and even before Los Angeles was confirmed as host city on September 13, 2017, leaders aspired to deliver one of the most innovative and technologically advanced sporting events to date. The 11-year runway was unprecedented.

Four years later, in the summer of 2021, the LA28 Organizing Committee was still operating with a small staff, but its ambition remained huge. Leaders wrestled with questions that, from a tech standpoint, were challenging to answer: How is technology anticipated to evolve in the next seven years? Will what’s innovative today feel like yesterday’s news in 2028? To successfully plan an event of this massive scale, how could LA28 explore what’s possible without moving too far from what’s predictable? LA28 leaders needed a clear vision and overall strategy that could be foundational to how they moved forward with potential talent, sponsors, and collaborators.