SPORTEC Thailand 2026: ASEAN Sport Tech Report
Hello from the VFA Communications Team.
From June 25 to 27, 2026, we visited SPORTEC Thailand 2026, held at BITEC Hall 102 in Bangkok, Thailand.
SPORTEC is a sports and wellness industry exhibition that has been held in Japan for more than 15 years. SPORTEC Thailand 2026 was organized as its Southeast Asia expansion. According to BITEC’s official information, the event was introduced as Thailand’s first fitness and sport technology exhibition.
The venue brought together a wide range of products and services related to the sports and health industries, including fitness machines, sporting goods, health tech, Pilates, rehabilitation systems, and equipment for sports facilities.
BITEC is a large exhibition center directly accessible from BTS Bang Na Station via a skywalk. We felt that easy access is an important value for both visitors and exhibitors.
In Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where VFA’s office is located, Metro Line 1 opened at the end of 2024. In the future, Vietnam may also see further development of large-scale exhibition venues and transport infrastructure.
Why VFA Visited SPORTEC Thailand
VFA visited the exhibition as a participant in the JSPIN International Market Development Program.
JSPIN is a platform established by Japan Sports Agency to support the international expansion of Japan’s sports industry and promote collaboration between Japan and overseas sports markets. For the SPORTEC Thailand 2026 program, JSPIN also provided opportunities such as pitch sessions for local stakeholders and visits to the Embassy of Japan in Thailand and JETRO.
VFA is a Japanese software development company based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We usually develop web systems, mobile apps, AI systems, image recognition solutions, and XR applications. At the same time, we have also worked on projects related to sports, fitness, wellness, and healthcare.
Some of our public case studies include:
- GN+: cloud infrastructure and app development for Japan’s No. 1 golf app
- POCARI CROSS RUN: an O2O and IoT app connected with 7-Eleven beacon devices across Singapore
- Baller: a basketball app combining real-time AI image recognition and AR
- Joggle: a jogging experience app that can be enjoyed using only a smartphone
- FaceEmotion: an AI system that analyzes facial expressions in real time through a camera
In the English pitch session organized by JSPIN, we introduced VFA as a development and local expansion partner for Sport Tech companies that want to start small, test quickly, and expand in Vietnam or ASEAN when the timing is right.
Sports and wellness services are difficult to build only on paper. It is important to let real users try the service, observe their reactions, and improve the product step by step. In that sense, seeing the ASEAN market directly was also an important opportunity for us.
What We Saw at the Venue
When we walked around the venue, fitness machines, strength training equipment, health measurement devices, rehabilitation equipment, and sports facility products had a strong presence. Many of the physical products appeared to come from China, Korea, and Taiwan, while many Thai companies seemed to be local distributors.
At the same time, what VFA paid particular attention to was digital services.
We saw products for measuring health conditions, solutions that support exercise form improvement, services that digitalize the operation of sports teams and leagues, and AI services that generate highlights from match videos.
Overall, Thailand’s Sport Tech market still seemed to be led by physical products such as equipment and facilities. However, we also felt that there is strong room for growth in the surrounding areas: software, data utilization, continuous engagement, and fan experience.
What Stood Out About the Thai Market
Thailand is one of the fastest-aging countries in ASEAN. The World Bank describes Thailand as the second-fastest aging country in ASEAN after Singapore.
Because of this, sports and fitness are likely to become more than entertainment or hobbies. They will also become connected to healthy life expectancy, medical costs, local communities, and employee retention.
We also noticed “Calories Credit Challenge,” or CCC, a health management app involving the Thai government. According to official Thai government information, CCC is an initiative that uses technology to encourage continuous exercise, and it is a project involving more than 50 organizations.
Thailand’s national strategy, Thailand 4.0, is also introduced as a direction to shift from traditional industries toward a higher-value digital economy. In sports and wellness as well, we expect digitalization to move forward in areas such as measuring, recording, continuing, analyzing, and improving experiences.
Taiwanese Sport Tech Companies Were Impressive
One of the most impressive parts of the exhibition was the presence of Taiwanese Sport Tech companies. Some Taiwanese companies related to the ASPN Sports Tech Accelerator were also exhibiting at the venue.
ASPN stands for APEC Sports Policy Network. It is a network launched in September 2016 under the APEC framework. It serves as a platform where organizations and experts related to sports policy, the sports industry, and sports technology can exchange ideas.
The ASPN Sports Tech Accelerator is an accelerator program that supports sports technology companies in the Asia-Pacific region. According to official information, the program has supported more than 130 startups from 25 countries and created more than USD 38 million in investment and business value.
One Taiwanese company that stood out was MEET AGILE and its service “XCEED SPORTS.” According to its official website, XCEED SPORTS is a platform that handles registration, scheduling, stats, streaming, and website building in one place.
League and tournament operations involve much more detailed work than people may imagine. When registration, schedules, scores, stats, streaming, and fan communication are connected, the experience of running sports events can change significantly.
Another impressive company was Spot. Spot is introduced as an AI Live Media Agent that automatically generates clips, captions, and highlights from live broadcasts in real time. It supports sports broadcasters, leagues, teams, and news media by helping them clip, tag, and distribute live video content.
Through conversations at the venue, we felt that Taiwanese companies were not only strong in technology. They were also entering real operational areas such as league management, video distribution, team operations, and fan touchpoints.
Sport Tech cannot be built with technology alone. It creates value only when it connects with sports organizations, leagues, teams, broadcasters, sponsors, and fan experiences. This was a very useful perspective when thinking about Sport Tech in ASEAN.
The Potential Japan Can Offer
Another area that left a strong impression was digital products in the wellness field.
Japan has faced population aging earlier than many other countries. As a result, the idea of “Kenko Investment for Health and Productivity Management),” where companies treat employee health as a management issue, has spread in Japan.
One interesting example in this area is ISO 25554:2024, an international standard developed and published with Japanese leadership.
As the global population ages, many communities and organizations still lack clear standards for what goals to set, what to measure, and how to improve wellbeing. ISO 25554:2024 provides guidelines for promoting wellbeing in various communities, based partly on Japan’s experience in Health and Productivity Management.
Wellness is not simply about creating an app.
Each company or organization needs to define what a good state looks like. It must decide how to measure that state. It must design an experience that users can continue without difficulty. It also needs to go beyond collecting data and create experiences that actually change behavior.
Japan has deep experience in aging, Health and Productivity Management, wellbeing, and field-level improvement. On the other hand, ASEAN has young markets, high smartphone usage, rapidly rising health awareness, and strong momentum in the sports industry.
We felt that the connection between these two sides creates a major opportunity for Sport Tech and Wellness Tech. At the venue, Japanese digital products related to this context were also introduced.
Summary
There were three main things we learned from SPORTEC Thailand 2026.
First, interest in sports, fitness, and wellness is high in Thailand, and the market may continue to grow in connection with health and aging.
Second, physical products such as fitness machines and health measurement devices still have a strong presence, but there is room for further growth in software-driven and data-driven Sport Tech.
Third, companies like the Taiwanese exhibitors are already connecting technology with real operational areas such as league management, video distribution, and fan experience.
VFA believes it can support companies that want to test Sport Tech or Wellness Tech in Vietnam and ASEAN by helping them try ideas locally, observe real user reactions, and improve step by step.
Sports, fitness, and wellness will become increasingly connected with digital technology. From Vietnam, we will continue creating digital experiences that are useful in the real ASEAN market, one step at a time.
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