Sports Innovation Lab will be tasked with developing the GEF's global events portfolio under the partnership.

This includes GEFcon, billed as the GEF's "convention, thought-leadership and dialogue platform".

"We are proud to welcome Sports Innovation Lab as our Global Supporter in an effort to deepen our involvement with the stakeholders in esports, including fans worldwide on one global, inclusive platform," GEF President Chris Chan said. 

Sports Innovation Lab was co-founded by Angela Ruggiero, a sports leader and Olympic gold medallist in ice hockey who is also an entrepreneur and advisor; and Josh Walker, former vice-president of research at Forrester Research and entrepreneur-in-residence at General Catalyst.

"Sports Innovation Lab is honoured to be named as a Global Supporter of the GEF," said Ruggiero, who is also chief executive of Sports Innovation Lab.

"We look forward to applying to the esports space and this partnership with the GEF the expertise and insights we've gained from our experiences in working with world-class organisations like the National Football League and others.

"Together, we will create and scale breakthrough fan experiences for esports globally to benefit the entire esports ecosystem."

Ruggiero is a former International Olympic Committee member and presently an independent member of World Rugby’s Executive Committee.

Sports Innovation Lab works with data-driven technology and research to improve fan experiences within the sport sector.

The GEF, which launched in December 2019, last week announced plans to stage the Global Esports Games - which could be a potential rival to the International Esports Federation's Esports World Championship.