Smart Solutions for Smart Destinations: the winners

Startup companies Necsum Trison (Biscay) and Orwell (Italy) have won the Smart Solutions for Smart Destinations challenge. The initiative which was launched by the World Tourism Organization, Athletic Club and the Biscay Provincial Council in the summer. The winning projects were announced during an institutional event at San Mamés (broadcast online via www.smartsolutionsforsmartdestinations.com), which was attended by Athletic Club president, Aitor Elizegi, Biscay’s Councillor for Economic Promotion, Ainara Basurko, and the director of innovation and education at the World Tourism Organization, Natalia Bayona.

A total of 99 startups from 37 countries participated in the challenge which asked innovative companies from all over the world to design intelligent solutions putting San Mamés at the heart of a proposal for touristic experiences in Biscay. The other three finalists were Fluxguide (Austria), Snaptivity (United Kingdom) and Alice Biometrics (Spain). These proposals stood out due to containing a high level of innovation and being in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Athletic Club’s president, Aitor Elizegi, expressed his delight with the response to this international competition: “We’re very happy with the impact this initiative has had and also with the nearly 100 proposals that understood the potential a stadium like San Mamés can offer its fans and the thousands of tourists who choose Bilbao. Athletic Club’s commitment to innovation and new technologies is firm and we hope the two winners of this competition will join our ecosystem of collaborators who are implementing their ideas and projects into the reality of our club.”

Necsum Trison

Biscay-based company Necsum Trison put foward a proposal which focused on the development of experiences through technology. Necsum wants to contribute to the tourism restart by generating unique and innovative spaces in cities. The goal of its proposal is to increase the number of visitors, lengthen the duration of their stay and guarantee their return to visited places as a product of a digital offering and the previous experience.

As winners of the Pre-Seed Category award which recognises the most innovative and creative idea presented to the challenge, Necsum Trison will be able to collaborate with Athletic Club’s ecosystem of innovation and new technologies. In this sense, support will be given in terms of disseminating the contents presented in their proposal via the club’s different digital and communication channels, whilst other types of initiatives that arise from joint work sessions between the entities will also be valued.

Orwell

Orwell intends to fill a massive gap in the market by developing original solutions. Namely, cybersports games. The company offers immersive and competitive video games, which utilise Virtual and Augmented Reality, combining passion for the game with physical endurance and offering an experience where the world of eSports and traditional sports converge. Futhermore, it promotes sporting values and physical activity by offering a competitive game in which the movements and mechanics of real-life sport are replicated.

The Early Stage winner, having demonstrated that their solution or product can be quickly implemented in real and competitive environments, will become part of Athletic Club’s ecosystem of innovation and new technologies. Once the viability of applying their solution in the club’s environment has been checked, the possibility of developing a collaboration agreement at innovation level that could lead to a pilot or specific project will also be assessed.

Similarly, they will recieve support with the promotion of the contents presented in the proposal through the club’s the different digital and communication channels. Additionally, other types of initiatives that are born from the work between the entities will also be evaluated.