It closed in Rome the first appointment of 2019 of FactorYmpresa Turismo, the Invitalia Program which offers tutoring services and economic contributions to businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs in the tourism sector, with the aim of increasing the quality of the offer and making Italy more competitive on international markets.
Physical, information, generational and cultural accessibility are the topics on which the 20 startuppers selected with a national call worked for two days together with Invitalia's tutors and mentors. Objective: to improve the team's ability to present the business idea to potential investors/partners/customers and "accelerate" project development. In particular, in a full immersion of 36 teams, they verified the strengths and weaknesses of the business model, defined how to strengthen the project by identifying the need for specialist services and prepared a 3-minute pitch which they presented to the jury.
The 10 winning projects were awarded a check for 10.000 euros each, in addition to the accompanying services provided by Invitalia.
THE 10 WINNING STARTUPS
MONUGRAM – Lazio
A mobile app which, using Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision algorithms, recognizes and describes any monument and place of interest by simply taking a photo and which offers the best options for related tourist activities and experiences. Monugram also allows you to constantly keep track of the progress of a trip through a specific section that acts as a "travel management", which shows all the steps related to the trip: transport, hotel, excursions and more.
EUROPASS ITALY – Lombardy
Europass aims to attract and guide Chinese tourists traveling in Italy and Europe. Difficulties related to language, habits, payment methods often create misunderstandings and difficulties for this segment of tourism, which is increasingly important for Italy and continues to grow. Europass therefore proposes to break down this barrier through a mini-app on WeChat, the WeChat Travel Experience: a geolocated guide with all the information for tourists, attractions, shopping and hospitality, just a click away.
BOOKINGBILITY – Sicily
Bookingbility is a website for searching and booking in real time accommodation facilities suitable for hosting people with disabilities and special needs. By selecting only truly accessible structures, Bookingbility encourages the use of tourist destinations, increasing flows, average stays and the social inclusion of an often excluded target.
DISHCOVERY – Emilia Romagna
Dishcovery is a web app that allows restaurants to create their multilingual and interactive digital menu and their foreign guests to read the menu in their own language without downloading any app and offering valuable information on culinary culture. Digital menus not only offer translation: guests will also be able to see the description of the ingredients, the dishes, the recommended pairings and much more.
WEMOVEON – Veneto
App created with the aim of promoting independent travel for people with disabilities and sustainable mobility within the city of Venice. WeMoveOn provides information on the existence of accessible routes and on the presence of obstacles, architectural barriers, high water, gradients, bridges, crowding and other difficulties; accompanies people along the most suitable itineraries according to the different disabilities; it makes you discover the accessible routes and buildings of public interest, monuments, churches, services and unpublished places; suggests the best water transport based on the destination.
DUPLICART – Lazio
Duplicart wants to bring the beauty of the Italian artistic heritage to everyone, even to those who are excluded from it for reasons of physical or mental disability. To pursue this goal, it makes use of the most advanced technologies in the field of digital scanning of works of art and their visualization in virtual and augmented reality, so as to bring 3D models into everyone's homes with a very high degree of fidelity to the original.
BABAIOLA – Sardinia
Babaiola is the first LGBT social travel in Europe. Users use the Babaiola mobile app or website as a platform where they can find information such as: the most gay-friendly (LGBT) areas of cities, dedicated events, clubs, gay-friendly hotels and to interact with over 20K subscribers to find travel companions and/or or make new friends.
TRAVELLY – Tuscany
Travelly is the online travel agency for single parents where you can find group travel proposals based on the age of the children, budget and destination. On the online platform it is possible to find pre-packaged proposals for group holidays or to create an advertisement for the search for travel companions for the holiday already booked.
NICO - Sicily
Nico is an application that aims at the digital transformation of the territory through the development of a solution capable of meeting users with specific needs. It is mainly aimed at visually impaired and blind users in order to involve them in a stimulating cultural experience making them independent, with the aim of improving their stay in the chosen cities.
ARTPLACE MUSEUM – Emilia Romagna
Historical palaces, religious buildings, museums and the landscape itself make up, in fact, a heritage of inestimable richness to be valued and communicated, also and above all through new technologies. With this aim, Artplace Museum was born, the first iBeacon-ready application developed specifically to "give voice" to this heritage and designed as a network for sharing an ever-increasing number of digitized museums and points of interest.
