UNWTO Global Gastronomy Tourism Startup Competition 2024

  •  Contest
  •  06-Jun-2024
  •   Worldwide
  • $$  Varies

Following the success of previous editions, UNWTO in collaboration with Basque Culinary Center launch the 4TH Global Competition for Gastronomy Tourism Startups. Our Mission is to identify challenges and projects, and catalyzing innovations that can transform the Gastronomy Tourism sector in the near future.

Tourism is a driver of inclusive and sustainable economic growth, a cross-cutting sector with a high impact on the promotion of social welfare, with the aim of promoting the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The undoubted influence of gastronomy in travel and the growing demand for gastronomic tourism have made this area one of the segments with the greatest development opportunities attracting growing interest on the part of governments. Food tourism has become one of the most dynamic and creative segments of tourism and, at the same time, has naturally positioned itself as an element of diversification of tourism with a high impact on the promotion of sustainable development at the regional and local levels.

THE COMPETITION:

New Technologies: Startups that are developing and promoting a startup with a high technological component to provide solutions or new services related to the Gastronomic Tourism sector.

Local Impact: Startups that are developing and promoting a project with a high component of transformation and social improvement in its area of implementation and that are attached to the Gastronomic Tourism sector.

Sustainability and Waste: Startups that are developing and promoting a project with a high component of sustainability and/or food waste management related to the impact generated by tourists.

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Eligibility Criteria

  • Scope into the Gastronomy Tourism Sector
  • Innovation: Degree of comparative disruptiveness / innovation in the sector (global level); not technological component required.
  • Social Impact of the Start-up: Focused on meeting unmet social needs in different realms, to foster employability of young and/or vulnerable people, depopulation of the territory, population aging and/or gender equality; and with tangible indicators to that effect.
  • Traction: Capacity to transform the localized environment; ability to generate a change in society, improving the social conditions of the beneficiary groups and / or promoting their recognition before society.
  • A tested MVP: product or service prototype, tested and tested, with already measured or measurable results. Potential impact of the business: potential scalability/financial return and/or development of competitive advantages for the business in the short-medium term.
  • Ease of value capture via collaboration with the Start-up: agile implementation in the short-medium term for co-development of products/services, optimizing the use of existing resources/infrastructure and ability to scale the product.
  • Committed team. Team with explicit knowledge about the area of action; positive assessment of the endorsement of a public or private organization on the execution of the project
  • Adherence to the Sustainable Development Goals: Linking and tangible social impact metrics in relation to the priority SDG.
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Offered Benefits

  • Mentoring by UNWTO and top partners 
  • Tailored support for your startup 
  • Investment opportunities 
  • Form part of the UNWTO Innovation Network 
  • Scholarship opportunities for the Tourism Online Academy 
  • Opportunity to present your startup at the 8th UNWTO Gastronomy Tourism Forum in San Sebastián, Spain (October 2023) 
  • Use of a space in the LABe- Digital Gastronomy Lab facilities for 6 months. 
  • Participate as a finalist company in the corresponding edition of Culinary Action! 
  • On the road, the first foodtech startup competition in roadshow format. 
  • Advanced Plan of the GOe Digital Community for 6 months, which is the first digital community within the 360º gastronomy sector.

Application Process

Go to World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) on docs.google.com to apply
Apply Here
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