IFI R & D Programme
The IFI Equipment R&D Programme was set up, at the request of equipment suppliers, with the remit to provide clear advice, guidelines and standards to participating partners about how to design and develop suitable inclusive fitness equipment. The programme, including a PhD Research project hosted by Sheffield Hallam University’s School of Engineering, was funded through a partnership between the IFI, Sport England, EFDS OC, Sheffield Hallam University, Montgomery Leisure Services and fitness equipment manufacturers and suppliers who joined as ‘R&D Associates’. The Programme was the first in its kind, anywhere in the world, to develop and produce a set of comprehensive analytical standards detailing the needs of disabled people to aid the development of inclusive commercial fitness equipment.
Such was the success of the IFI’s original R&D Programme that additional funding to the value of £200,000 has been unlocked, through a SportsPulse European Union Priority 1 funding bid and contributions from the EFDS OC, to continue the development and expansion of the previous programme. The programme takes a holistic and multidisciplinary approach, researching barriers and solutions by consulting with disabled users, fitness professionals and research and design teams from leading manufacturers. The work is supported by the following proactive IFI R&D Associate equipment suppliers:
- Cybex
- Escape
- Leisure Lines
- Life Fitness
- Matrix Fitness Systems
- Powerplate
- Precor
- Pulse Fitness
- SCIFIT
- Technogym
