STADIAWORLD | SPORTS VENUES 2020/21

www.stadiaworld.com SPORTS VENUES 2020/21   |   65 OPERATION STADIAWORLD: You are present because of sustain- ability projects. What meas- ures have you taken recently? Markerink: We have in- vested a lot in sustainability measures. We have solar pan- els on the roof, we have wind- mills to generate electricity. We developed a battery of three and a half mega watt built out of car batteries. We are almost self-supporting in electricity. STADIAWORLD: Which project would you highlight? Markerink: We are seeing our sustainabil- ity projects as one system. From the battery, over the solar panels to our LED lighting sys- tem, everything runs with DC. It is also in that a novelty, which is also a trend in housing, where you have full DC houses. That is about how the energy is generated, you don’t have to change it to AC, where you would lose a lot of energy. This system in total is a big inno- vation, the real hot shot in the system is the battery, which is a pretty unique thing. STADIAWORLD: What are your plans? Markerink: For the future, we are plan- ning to expand our system to the area of the stadium. Our wish is that we are in 6-7 years fully self-supporting in the area in electricity. We have also planned to recycle the waste and the rainwater. We want to maintain the rainwater and use it to flush the toilets for example. There are still things to be done. Stadiums have an enormous outreach. We are like a cathedral of the 21st century. We have the image, that everybody wants to come to us. We have a big chance, to bring out a message to the world. When we spread a message regarding sustainabil- ity or Ajax does, we have probably a bigger audience than a politician has. STADIAWORLD: You want to be one of the first stadiums to offer 5G. How impor - tant is the digitalisation of the stadium for you? What else do you count to stadium digitalisation? Markerink: Digitalisation is a very impor- tant topic for us. The future is already there. We started this about 5 years ago, where we started to collect data. We developed five programmes where we discover data, like for fan experience or customer journey or the maintenance of the stadium. We are do- ing this in cooperation with our tenants. We are working with Microsoft, Huawei, Hon- eywell or the Dutch Research Institute to- gether on this. This has already giving very interesting results, which we are applying in our day to day work. 5G is a chance to reinforce the network. We are not aware yet, what we can do with 5G. We started it one year ago, it is installed in the stadium. We are now doing test pro- grammes with different application to see how we can optimise the use 5G. We can use enormous amounts of data very quick. We have a few user cases with KPN. The results are interesting. For example: we are giving the stewards bodycams with ar- tificial intelligence. In stressful situations, the cam can analyse from the face of peo- ple what’s going on or see, what to do with a person who is lying down (umgekippt) and make a medical diagnosis. We are looking for new ways and this makes a lot fun. It’s a big adventure. STADIAWORLD: In January 2019 you launched an innovation programme. Can you tell us something about the results and your impressions? Markerink: We did an open call. We in- vited the world to come to us and come with clever ideas to raise the fan experi- ence. When people are in the stadium, how can you give them a better time? There were around 800 ideas, of which we select- ed 35. We have put in place three now. One is for people to watch the match on their mobile to see highlights and statistics. Then people can order food through their mobile, so you don’t have to wait in line. We are also working on VR. Virtual Glasses are now part of our stadium tour, so people can feel like an Ajax player. We are in the beginning of this technology. “Big chance to bring out a message” Henk Markerink, CEO of Johan Cruijff ArenA, speaks about sustainability and digitization. Henk Markerink The three and a half mega watt battery is one of the highlights. Picture: Johan Cruijff ArenA 