Nike teams with TechStars for a sports-themed startup accelerator

Everyone and their dog has got a tech incubator these days, and far be it from Nike to let the trend pass it by. The Nike+ Accelerator program was announced today; it uses the TechStars infrastructure to lure more developers to the Nike+ platform.

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On the program’s website, we read that the accelerator will bring ten lucky companies to sunny* Portland, Ore., for a three-month stint of development and mentorship, TechStars style. Participants will also get $20,000 per team.

The catch: all the products these companies create will have to use the Nike+ platform and/or NikeFuel “to build offerings that inspire and assist people to live more active, healthy lifestyles.”

From the site:

Nike’s mission is to bring motivation and inspiration to every athlete* in the world (*If you have a body, you’re an athlete). Nike+ launched in 2006 as a collection of digitally enabled products and services to motivate all athletes to exceed their potential.

We are looking for people who share this vision and want to create companies that build upon the success of NikeFuel, the Nike+ FuelBand, and Nike+ Running to make the world more active.

In addition to providing special APIs and SDKs for the developers involved, Nike will also give accelerator participants access to such bigwigs as Nike digital sport VP Stefan Olander, TechStars founder David Cohen, Foursquare co-founder Naveen Selvadurai, and general guru emeritus Tim Ferriss.

Nike is highlighting some of the available APIs on its site. The application deadline is February 3, 2013; the program is scheduled to begin in March 2013.

* Haha, just kidding.