USBOUSBO Universiteit Utrecht

Inspire Programme London 2012

Critical success factors and lessons for the Netherlands

Bake Dijk – Researcher @bakedijk

USBOUSBO Universiteit Utrecht

Olympic Games 2012Olympic Games 2012

• Singapore promise

• Inspire a generation

• Sebastian Coe placing a pledge to use the events to inspire two million people to take up sport and physical activity at the heart of the bid. Legacy includes sporting, economic, cultural, and environmental benefits, and aims to ensure that no “white elephants” were created by the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics.

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Inspire ProgrammeInspire Programme

• LOCOG - 2.713 Inspire marks – Sustainability – Education – Volunteering – Entrepreneurship (business) – Sports – Culture

April 2008 – September 2012

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Project demandsProject demands

• Inspired by the Olympic Games 2012• Innovative and exceptional• Participative, inclusive and accessible• Well planned and managed• Organized by one or more non-commercial

organizations. • Completely financed, without commercial financing

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Research by Utrecht UniversityResearch by Utrecht University

• Commissoned by NISB:

– Distinguish the critical success factors on the level of organization and content of the Inspire projects

– What are the lessons learned for the Dutch context?

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Research by Utrecht UniversityResearch by Utrecht University

•One week (3-8 June)

•11 cases in London

•Qualitative case studies by 22 master students

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General resultsGeneral results

• 72% of projects would either not have taken place or would not have taken place with the same scale or profile if London had not been chosen to host the Games

• More than half of the Inspire Projects (54%) have been running for 1 or more years

• Over 10 million people have been involved in an Inspire project. 1 in 6 people in the UK has been involved in an Inspire project.

• 9 in 10 Project Leads say they have been inspired to run similar projects in the future, showing strong legacy potential.

• 78% of Inspire projects are expected to continue after the Games

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Critical success factors

• National support by LOCOG• Existing initiatives• A strong local network• Clear local tasks• Ownership and influence by the target group• Accessible initiatives• Competent (voluntary) employees

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Fields of tension

Central control vs. Local implementationThink national, act local

Momentum of the event vs. Sustainable legacyUse the moment of the event as an accelerant for the final goal(s)

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Lessons learned for the Netherlands

1. On step back: operationalization of ‘legacy’

• On which themes do you focus? Why?• Is it important to determine national target groups?• What is the value of a ‘mark’?

– If it is of value: how can you optimize the advantages and limit the disadvantages

– What are the consequences for projects without a label?

• How do you measure legacy?– Do you focus on output? # participants? Hours of carried out

projects?– Do you focus on outcome? Less tangible, hard to measure or hard

to assign to legacy projects

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Lessons learned for the Netherlands

2. Connect the main event (OG) to the social legacy project(s)

• Facilitate as organizing committee a platform to use the advantages in relational and communication way with (potential) partners and sponsors. Organize network meetings or a digital platform and put a spotlight on the social projects

• Limit the regulations about the visibility of the link with the event. Words as ‘Olympic’, ‘OG 2012’ or use the Olympic rings were prohibited in the Inspire Programme. The momentum of the event makes the social projects possible. Make visible that the project wasn’t carried out in the same way (or in the same size) if the event didn’t take place.

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Lessons learned for the Netherlands

3. Strive for visible and tangible long-term legacy

• Re-use the facilities of the project by the target group (for example via schools)

• Recurring annual events for a wide range of people (Classico Giro)• Make sure local sports organizations are involved.

• Build ‘smart partnerships’. A global sports events usually attracts partners/sponsors with which you don’t get into contact normally. A welfare organization usually doesn’t cooperate with a commercial organization, but when the Olympic Games are organized in a country it is possible. Strive for structural partnerships.

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The End