HITIQ: Making the head impacts you can't see, measurable

Built on more than a decade of research into head impacts that can go unseen from the sideline, HITIQ has grown from an elite-sport research and development project into a technology company operating across community sport, elite sport, Military, research and high-risk environments.

HITIQ combines instrumented mouthguards, connected software and data analytics to turn otherwise unseen head impacts into actionable intelligence for athletes, families, teams, schools, leagues, clinicians and researchers.

“At HITIQ, we make the head impacts you cannot see from the sideline measurable” says Earl Eddings, HITIQ Executive Chair. “Turning those impacts into actionable intelligence helps athletes, families, teams and researchers make better-informed decisions. We built this capability in elite sport, Military and are now making it accessible to community sport and research.”

Making an invisible problem measurable

HITIQ’s technology was developed to address an important challenge in contact and collision sport: how to capture objective information about head impacts without disrupting an athlete’s ability to train and compete.

The company’s instrumented mouthguard platform brings together athlete performance, biomechanics, sensor technology and specialist dental design. Sensors embedded within a functional mouthguard capture detailed head-movement data during training and competition.

Early deployments in elite sporting environments demonstrated that the technology could identify impacts that were not always visible from the sideline. This provided the foundation for a broader platform that now supports community sport, elite teams, researchers and high-risk environments.

HITIQ’s leadership includes Earl Eddings as Executive Chairman, alongside Damien Hawes, Chief Commercial Officer; Andrew Hart, Chief Financial Officer; Chris Davis, Chief Marketing Officer Adrianne Sarkozy National Campaigns and Partnerships; and Yohan Jayasinghe, Head of Production.

100,000 concussions a year, with many never assessed

Concussion and repeated head-impact exposure are major issues across contact and collision sport. Australia is estimated to experience approximately 100,000 concussions each year, while many head impacts that warrant review are never seen, reported or assessed.

Decisions still rely heavily on visible symptoms and self-reporting, leaving coaches, families and medical teams with limited objective information about the force, frequency, timing and cumulative pattern of impacts.

The gap is especially acute in grassroots and junior sport, where medical resources are often limited, and in research, where larger datasets and more female-specific evidence are needed.

HITIQ turns head movement into structured data that can support impact awareness, follow-up, longitudinal exposure monitoring, research and policy development. Importantly, HITIQ is a measurement and decision-support technology. It does not diagnose concussion or replace clinical judgement.

PROTEQT: from biosensors to actionable intelligence

HITIQ’s PROTEQT technology combines high-resolution biosensors, algorithms, connected software and analytics. PROTEQT is the capture layer. For consumers, PROTEQT records linear and rotational head movement during training and matches. The mouthguard then synchronises session data with the PROTEQT app.

The app provides session summaries, impact timing, the Damage Severity Index head-impact risk score, SCAT6-aligned symptom checks and pathways to telehealth support. HITIQ has a PROTEQT product line catering for grassroots sport, schools and leagues, elite sport and high-risk environments. Across these settings, PROTEQT supports session tracking, alerts, longitudinal monitoring and reporting.

HITIQ’s sensors sample linear and rotational movement at up to 15,000 data points per second. Its algorithms have been developed using more than 70,000 video-verified head impacts.

From elite pilots to a global platform

HITIQ’s technology has been developed with and used by major sporting organisations, including the AFL, NRL and English Premier League, and is now deployed across Australia, North America, the United Kingdom and Japan.

PROTEQT, co-developed with Shock Doctor, has expanded HITIQ’s technology into community and consumer markets through direct sales and retail availability via rebel, Chemist Warehouse and Amazon.

Victoria remains central to HITIQ’s next phase. In 2026, the company executed a non-dilutive Victorian Government grant agreement supporting a minimum $4.9 million project across advanced manufacturing, research and development, product innovation and future employment growth.

HITIQ’s technology is also being used by Cardiff University in a pioneering women’s rugby study that combines mouthguard data, cognitive testing, MRI and computer modelling. The research is helping to address a longstanding gap in female-specific evidence relating to head impacts and brain health. HITIQ’s technology has been assessed in research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. This research serves as a definitive State of Knowledge for 2026, confirming that the "status quo" of relying on visual cues and intuition to manage head impacts is no longer justifiable.

The company’s momentum has been backed by more than $30 million invested in research and development over the past decade, more than 130,000 cognitive assessments completed, and a $925,000 oversubscribed capital placement announced in December 2025.

HIT IQ signed in early 2026 an exclusive partnership with Sportscover to integrate PROTEQT™ into Sports Insurance.

HITIQ’s growing profile within Victoria’s sportstech ecosystem was reinforced in 2026 when, after joining the Australian Sports Technologies Network in July, the company was confirmed to participate in the Victorian Sportstech Showcase at SportNXT in Melbourne. The event was organised and presented by ASTN with support from the Victorian Government.

What’s next

Over the next one to three years, HITIQ aims to scale from Victoria as a global head-impact intelligence company.

Its priorities include growing PROTEQT across Australian and international consumer markets; scaling its product line catering for grassroots sport, schools and leagues, elite sport, global Military, and high-risk environments; expanding retail, distribution and sporting-body partnerships; and investing in local advanced manufacturing, hardware, software and analytics.

The company also plans to deepen its research and clinical partnerships and use its growing dataset to strengthen longitudinal insights, risk models and evidence-based player-welfare practices.

As a new member of the ASTN community, HITIQ sees the network adding the greatest value through targeted introductions to sporting bodies, government, researchers, investors and export markets. Other opportunities include participation in relevant showcases and trade missions, as well as support in establishing pilots and market-entry partnerships.

Victoria is home to 39 per cent of Australia’s sportstech businesses and almost half of its sportstech jobs. Its concentration of elite sport, research, medtech, advanced manufacturing and specialist talent provides HITIQ with a strong base from which to develop, validate, manufacture and export its technology.

Edings notes that “Victoria brings together world-class sport, research, advanced manufacturing and a government committed to innovation. ASTN can connect those strengths and help Victorian companies such as HITIQ move from local development and validation to global opportunity.”

Find out more

For more information about HITIQ, visit hitiq.com.

Read more about the Victorian Government funding agreement supporting HITIQ’s advanced manufacturing expansion.

Read more about the Cardiff University women’s rugby brain-health study using HITIQ technology.