Word-playing aside, the Journey is now on it’s third edition, a brand new marathon of pilot projects on the making to disrupt the tourism industry.
For all the startups that want to take their chance to apply to this open innovation program, these are the brave partners that are following the path of innovation, with Turismo de Portugal as the main enabler and Unicre as the program’s data partner.
Completing the list, here are the ones more than ready to work side by side for pilot development:
1. Parques de Sintra – Monte da Lua
In order to understand Parques de Sintra – Monte da lua, one needs to understand a bit of Sintra: we are talking about a mysterious mountain (the Serra de Sintra, also known as Monte da Lua) that includes the exquisite village with the same name – Sintra – as well as astonishingly beautiful and unique parks and monuments, part of UNESCO world heritage.
Following this UNESCO classification of the Sintra Cultural Landscape is 1995, Parques de Sintra was then created in the year 2000 to manage and optimize the area’s monuments, parks and properties.
— > The Journey you could take with this partner: Parques de Sintra – Monte da Lua joined this year as a program partner and would like to solve several challenges such as management of visitor flows, visitor counting and tracking systems, outdoor and indoor geolocation, fauna and flora identification, among several others. The idea is to optimize the experience of every visit.
2. Barraqueiro
Barraqueiro is a rerun partner for this edition of The Journey. Established as an international player and a leader in the Iberian transport sector, Grupo Barraqueiro is an experienced company founded in 1915. Constantly looking to evolve, it specializes in the design and implementation of innovative passenger and freight mobility solutions, in a sustainable way.
— > The Journey you could take with this partner: From finding smarter, safer and easier ticketing systems, to tracking and optimizing routes to reduce points of friction and tourism pressure, there is a lot to work with Barraqueiro, as these are a few examples. The purpose is to truly innovate the way of work, enhancing the customer experience and smoothing the business.
3. Vila Galé
Also partnering with The Journey for the first time, Vila Galé appears as one of the largest Portuguese hotel groups, managing 34 hotel units (25 in Portugal and nine in Brazil). Envisioning to be a benchmark company in the hospitality industry, the group also aspires to an economic growth that is sustainable, as well as socially and environmentally responsible.
— > The Journey you could take with this partner: As the creator of a disruptive solution, you could be helping Vila Galé to optimize energy and water consumption, predict maintenance for buildings or even bring out a brand new domotics system, among several other ways in which a hotel can be much more than that and add value to the whole touristic experience.
Ps. A lot on your mind or just don’t know where to begin? Don’t worry, Beta-i’s team is here to guide you through. Leave us a message at scouting@beta-i.com
This is arguably the most exciting Open Innovation Program for the Energy industry in the world. Free Electrons, now in its third edition, has conquered the reputation of contributing to significant advancements in the Energy industry and boosting the growth of the startups that participate in this global program.
Make no mistake, Free Electrons has been designed for greatness from the start. Three years ago, eight energy utilities from all over the globe (AusNet Services, DEWA, EDP, ESB, innogy, Origin Energy, SP Group and Tokyo Electric Power Company) joined forces in a consortium built to push the boundaries of the energy sector, in order to find better and more sustainable solutions. Last year, American Electric Power and CLP have joined the gang, and are now part of the mighty 10 brave utilities.
The track record is unparalleled, both by the innovation injected in the utilities and by the growth achieved by the startups that become part of the big Free Electrons family.
So it comes with no surprise that the third edition, that wrapped up its third module last week, is already set to break some very high Free Electrons standards.
During this last module, startups and utilities had the chance to present the first pilots, after the match that took place in Module 1, with an impressive 27 pilots announced. Startups solutions are now being applied to utilities business challenges.
While on the second module of the program, Utilities and Startups also, based on the progress made on the first pilots, kicked off the development of new pilots and moved towards potential commercial agreements and/or investment contracts. Seven new pilots were announced by the end of Module 2, making the total of ongoing pilots of Free Electrons a mind blowing 41.
Free Electrons Utilities and Startups will now continue to work on their remarkable solutions that will be presented in an open day in Lisbon, on September 19 at Academia das Ciências. Hope you can join us there!
The second edition of The Journey is in full throttle!
Brought to you by Turismo de Portugal and fully dedicated to the development of innovation in the Tourism Industry, The Journey is a 3-month program with a global reach. It aims to bring startups dedicated to solving problems in the industry to work alongside Turismo de Portugal and local industry players: Grupo Barraqueiro, Geostar, Pestana Hotel Group, SATA Azores Airlines and NOS.
This second edition is focusing on four big key points:
Personalizing the customer journey
Creating a seamless traveling experience
Improve customer care
Promote conscious travelling
As an important growing industry, tourism is perfectly positioned to create the right conditions for startups and innovation to thrive in Portugal, as pointed out by the president of Turismo de Portugal, Luís Araújo.
“The idea for this project, once again organized by Beta-i, is to reinforce Portugal’s positioning as an entrepreneurship and experimentation platform for startups. At a moment when the digital world both consolidates and conditions the sector’s sustainability, Turismo de Portugal keeps focused on creating a friendly environment for innovation, through several initiatives to support entrepreneurship.”
The bootcamp, which took place last week, gathered 20 selected startups from around the world. Beta-i gave the startups the tools they needed to prepare a business case adapted to the needs of the partners and pilot case plan of action. The week included presentations, workshops and a round of speed-dating (one on one meetings with the corporate partners), motivational talks and sharing of alumni experiences.
The Finalists
These are the 14 startups that are conducting pilot-projects with The Journey’s partners.This exciting phase will develop over the next two months, with the final results being presented on november 20th, at Lisbon Tourism Summit.
Get to know them:
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[item title=”aPieceof.me”]A platform to find unique souvenirs and sustain local commerce and trades
[item title=”Omikuji”] Omikuji is a Software as a Service company committed to democratize the use of Big Data and Advanced Analytics solutions within small, medium and big-size business based on cutting-edge cloud based technology and custom-made data science.
[item title=”Social CxN”]SocialCxN is an automated Influencer Marketing Platform that was designed and developed to make the influencer marketing industry more transparent, collaborative, and efficient for both Brands & Influencers.
[item title=”Timescenery”]Timescenery is a social trip planner and marketplace, making trip planning frictionless and social, especially for multi-leg itineraries, such as road trips, city hopping, business travel or any kinds of trips with busy schedule, including different places to visit and logistics.
[item title=”Venture With Impact”]Venture with Impact brings working professionals to cities abroad in groups of 20 or less. Venturers are provided with living accommodations, workspace, 24-hour support and culturally immersive activities for a period of one month. Venture with Impact participants are matched with an NGO or social business to work on a project that aligns with their professional skills, interests and remote work schedule.
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[item title=”Wall-i”]Wall-I.TV is the most advanced cloud-based Digital Signage OS, able to provide segmented content for the audience consuming the information and versatile enough to be adaptable to the presentation of contents within different context requirements.
