Deadline: 30-Jun-22
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) calls for a joint effort amongst stakeholders and launched the Awake Tourism Challenge seeking to find the most innovative startups that are working to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The proposed programme is an initiative inside the broader framework of the United Nations Decade of Action in order to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
It makes it possible to promote technology, social impact and sustainability solutions to compelling challenges by giving the opportunity to startups from around the world to present their projects to the global innovation ecosystem.
Objectives
This challenge poses the following objectives:
- Seek out the most innovative solutions to accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals achievement regarding viability, scalability and impact.
- Gather and connect all actors of the global innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, namely UN Agencies; Member States and public organizations; startups; academia; corporations; incubators and accelerators; and investors and venture builders.
- Provide a platform for the exchange of knowledge, business models, successful business cases and general support among startups to foster disruption in their own strategy and in the economy as a whole.
- Position tourism as an integrating factor of all economic sectors around the Sustainable Development Goals.
Categories
UNWTO has identified 6 challenges that that will act as the categories for this programme. As there might be projects able to contribute to more than category, the one in which the positive impact is expected to be stronger should be selected.
- Local community involvement: 80% of all people living in ‘extreme poverty’ live in rural communities1 while domestic, rural and eco-tourism have emerged as the most popular travel choices.
- Green and blue economies: tourism can be a source of economic opportunities at the same time of protecting natural ecosystems by developing its operations with sustainable infrastructure through more efficient energy, water, and waste management systems.
- Ecological and Sustainable Capital Creation: sustainable capital has the potential to optimize resource usage, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and also provide a competitive market advantage for businesses.
- Tourism Tech for Good: advancements in deep technology have revolutionized the sector, especially since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, by simultaneously improving customer experience and increasing quality of life and wellness for societies, including topics such as accessibility, inclusion, poverty alleviation.
- Tourism Education: despite representing 10% of the world’s jobs2 before Covid-19, tourism has faced a challenge in terms of skills development. Indeed, almost 20%3 of the employed people in selected tourism industries in the European Union had less than primary and lower secondary education in 2018.
- Women Empowerment: while employing the largest number of women4 in most regions of the world, they yet tend to be concentrated in the lowest paid and lowest status jobs in the sector.
Benefits
Benefits for winning startups include but are not limited to:
- Sponsorship provided by Wakalua to pitch at the UNWTO Demo Day (venue and country tbc);
- Application through the YouNoodle platform, which facilitates introduction and growth opportunities for startups;
- Access to 90+ Venture Capitalists, Top Corporations and 150+ Countries;
- Become a Member of the UNWTO Innovation Network;
- Curated mentorship and acceleration programme from their partners;
- Membership at the Startup Campuses;
- Potential pilot project with private sector collaborators and institutions;
- Potential seed funding;
- Incubation services in Les Roches Spark Innovation Center, including 3 months accommodation in Crans-Montana, provided by the Sommet Education group.
Eligibility Criteria
- The Challenge is aimed at/is open to all entrepreneurs from UN Member States, whether individuals or legal entities, of legal age and with the legal capacity to enter into a contract. The projects can be focused on any methods, processes, governance structures, social impact initiatives, technological applications, among other ways of innovation.
- Specifically, entrepreneurs and startups should meet the following criteria:
- Be innovative in nature and provide value-added solutions for the acceleration of the Sustainable Development Goals
- Be in Early or Series A growth stage
- Be scalable
- Introduction or adoption of digital and technological elements
- To have a potential for international growth
- To have a tested pilot and business plan
- To have a full-time team including at least 2 members under 35 years. Gender balance will be also considered.
- To be sustainability-driven
For more information, visit https://www.unwto.org/unwto-awake-tourism-challenge