Deadline: 4-Jan-21
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched the Re-establishing Tourism Confidence through Innovative Digital Solutions Challenge to help Southeast Asia’s small and medium-sized tourism businesses endure the COVID-19 downturn, how can we use digital technology to provide health and safety information, or develop consumer products and services, that restore confidence to travel.
In this challenge, ADB seeks digital solutions that can contribute to Southeast Asia’s tourism recovery in the wake of COVID-19.
The following areas of interests are eligible for the challenge:
- Real-time updates on COVID-19 health and safety protocols implemented by public and private tourism service providers and information about evolving visa, air and ground transport, accommodation, tours, food and beverage services, and other tourism business operations.
- Integrated end-to-end travel planning tools (air and ground transport, accommodations, food and beverages, health, and wellness, etc.) that integrate COVID-19 safety and prevention measures.
- Creative digital marketing campaigns that maintain destination visibility and engender consumer confidence to travel again.
Funding Information
- The selected solution will have potential funding of USD 10,000 or more for selected pilots in ADB’s developing member countries.
Judging Criteria
Proposals will be judged based on:
- Business Value 30%
- value the solution provides to equip businesses the solution they need to make tourists feel secure and well-informed, at the same time share/exchange information to other areas, establishments, or businesses.
- Operational Feasibility and Scalability 30%
- viability of solutions to be implemented across Southeast Asia.
- User Experience 20%
- usability, ease of use.
- Technical Competency 20%
- features and the underpinning technology.
Eligibility Criteria
This Challenge is open to the general public from ADB member countries. Teams may be composed of between 1-5 persons. The Challenge is also offered to:
- Startups;
- University Students and Faculty;
- Research Organizations and Independent Researchers;
- Corporate Partners.
Application
- The proposal should be submitted on or before January 4, 2021 with a deadline set at 1700 hrs [GMT +8]. The following content should be provided:
- Team Introduction: Name and professional background (including short 1-page CV) for all members of the team submitting applications.
- “Pitch deck” Presentation with (i) idea and value proposition; (ii) details on the underpinning technology and data inputs, (iii) explanation of the solution (iv) details on how to maintain the product in the long run. Teams may also provide one slide on their specific mentoring needs if they are selected to proceed to the next phase. Please provide the presentation in PDF format.
- Prototype or wireframe of the proposed solution (optional), which may be submitted as an URL to the solution, video, or PDF format.
Evaluation
- Up to 10 submissions will be evaluated and shortlisted to proceed to the mentoring stage. The 10 shortlisted teams will be notified on January 13, 2021 at 1600 hrs [GMT +8].
Mentoring
- The 10 shortlisted teams will be paired with ADB experts and other subject matter experts to understand the context of the problem further and refine the proposed solution from January 18-February 5, 2021. During this time, the teams may pose questions to their mentors through the platform messaging system, and organize one call with the mentor to review their solution and pitch deck presentation.
- A webinar facilitated by ADB will also be organized for the participants to engage and submit their questions to mentors and other experts. Webinar topics will include tourism industry challenges and opportunities caused by COVID-19 crisis, digital technology essentials, AWS platform, creating effective pitch deck, among others.
- Out of the 10 shortlisted solutions, 4-5 teams will be selected to proceed to the final Pitching Day. The top 4-5 teams will need to upload their final Pitch Decks by February 26, 2021.
Pitching
- The final teams will have an opportunity to pitch their final solutions to the board of Jurors during Final Pitching Event. During the event, the teams will have 15mins to present their pitch decks and give a demonstration of their proposed solution. After the presentation, the Jury will pose questions to the team.
- The jury will announce the selected team at the end of the event. Participants are required to upload their Pitch Decks by February 26, 2021 at 1800 hrs [GMT +8]. The Challenge Pitching will take place on the first week of March.
For more information, visit https://challenges.adb.org/en/challenges/new-normal-tourism-confidence-through-innovative-digital-solutions?lang=en