How can digital technologies transform the climbing experience of the future? This guiding question shaped our recent EDIH Network Course featuring the success story Digital Climbing Hold. Based on the collaboration between ArtRock Kletterwände GmbH and the EDIH Crowd in Motion, the course showcased how a traditionally analogue sport can be reimagined through digital innovation.
Project overview:
Starting Point: The Search for a “Smart” Climbing Experience
ArtRock, an internationally active climbing-wall manufacturer based in Tyrol, aimed to make climbing halls more appealing to broader audiences — from children and families to recreational users who may not consider themselves climbers.
The central challenge:
How can we create a motorically, sensorily, and intellectually stimulating adventure environment that excites visitors aged 6 to 99?
Through EDIH services — including a Design Sprint and a Tech-Prototyping Bootcamp — it became clear that the most powerful solutions emerge at the intersection of digital technologies, user-centric design, and physical activity.
The idea: A digital climbing hold with intelligent interaction
During the four-day Design Sprint, a clear concept emerged:
👉 A “smart” digital climbing hold that
- detects climber contact,
- identifies users,
- provides interactive LED-based feedback,
- and communicates with other holds to enable dynamic, game-like climbing scenarios.
The solution was designed to be:
- low-cost,
- robust,
- retrofit-ready for existing walls,
and patentable.
During the Tech-Prototyping Bootcamp, early prototypes, communication architectures, and proof-of-concepts were developed.
A key decision: implementing LoRaWAN as the communication technology due to its low-power requirements, low operating costs, and strong performance.
Results & Impact
For ArtRock and the climbing industry:
- Development of new digital sensing systems for climbing holds
- Retrofit-friendly sensor modules for existing walls
- Automated interpretation of contact and movement data
- Novel interaction concepts for playful, adaptive climbing routes
This innovation expands ArtRock’s offerings, strengthens its differentiation in a competitive market, and opens doors to new customer segments.
For EDIH Crowd in Motion & the European EDIH network:
- A strong example of how design thinking + rapid prototyping accelerate innovation
- Practical knowledge transfer in IoT, sensorics, and digital product development
- Demonstration of how EDIH services help SMEs create digitally enabled business models
Wider social impact:
Contributes to regional value creation through digital innovation
EncAdds a playful, digital layer to physical activity
Encourages families, young people, and non-traditional climbers to participate
Lessons Learned
Participants in the course highlighted key takeaways:
- Multidisciplinary teams significantly accelerate innovation.
- Early prototyping reduces risk and supports fast validation.
- Combining physical and digital elements unlocks new service opportunities.
- Challenges such as power management, robustness, and miniaturization require iterative refinement.
Course Materials & Presentation
Download the full presentation used during the course here:
👉 Download the Presentation
Course Page Coming Soon
A dedicated course page with all information, materials, and access to documents will be added soon.
This blog post will be updated as soon as the link is available.