Policy formulation and evidence-based investments in sport

European conference on investments in sport was organised online on 20 December 2021. Initially planned to take place in-person at the Croatian Chamber of Economy in Zagreb, Croatia, the COVID-19 restrictions that were imposed a week before the conference caused a last-minute change to the online format, which affected the initially planned length, number of speakers and the amount of content to be presented at the conference.

The conference was co-organised by the Croatian Olympic Committee, and the Croatian Chamber of Economy. Alma Papić was the conference moderator.

Welcome addresses were given by the President of the Croatian Chamber of Economy Luka Burilović, President of the Croatian Olympic Committee Zlatko Mateša, and Minister of Tourism and Sport Nikolina Brnjac. In the last part of the conference, Members of the European Parliament Tomislav Sokol and Željana Zovko informed participants about the European perspective of the investments in sport infrastructure in the EU programming period 2021-2027.

Members of the iSport team Anna Kleissner, Guenther Grohall, and Themis Kokolakakis presented the Study on the economic impact of an investment in sport, Guidelines on investments in sport, and Investment Calculator that was made freely available online at the project website.

Participants were invited to use the publicly available intellectual outputs that were created by the iSport team: Anna Kleissner, Guenther Grohall, Themis Kokolakakis, Darko Vrančić, Krunoslav Zauder, Jelena Paušić, Vassos Kotsioundas, Vilma Čingiene, Kristina Kalašinskaite, Richar Anner, Rita Nunes, Fernando Tenreiro, Robbie Millar, and Alma Papić.

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.