Comunitat Valenciana Digital District has started a line of collaboration with the World Tourism Orgnization (UNWTO) to work together in the development of ideas and challenges in the field of innovation that are called to lead the transformation of the sector. As a result of this collaboration, Digital District participates in the organization and presentation of the final of the 2nd edition of the UNWTO Tourism Startup Competition held in Madrid. It is one of the programs promoted by the global hub of innovation in Tourism Wakalua, within its strategy to identify the most disruptive startups and scale up the innovation ecosystem in Tourism worldwide, in which more than 3,000 startups from 140 countries are already integrated.

 

UNWTO is the first international organization with which the Digital District has launched a direct collaboration project. This will be followed by other organizations with whom conversations have already begun. Based on this line of collaboration with the UNWTO, Digital District is part of the Jury of the 2nd edition of the Tourism Startup Competition, and will be in charge of supporting and presenting the award of one of the six categories of the contest, ‘Smart Destinations’. This category includes ideas that improve the sustainability and profitability of a destination from an economic, environmental and sociocultural perspective, with technology that promotes innovation and accessibility in an increasingly globalized world.

The two startups that made up to the final in ‘Smart Destination’ category are:

• Road.Travel (Russia): a social platform for planning and booking online trips for road trips with an integration strategy for connected and autonomous vehicles.

• Visualfy (Spain- Winner of the competition): creator of a pioneer and unique sound recognition algorithm, capable of emulating the sense of hearing, to identify relevant sounds that results in personalized visual and sensory alerts for any device.

Tourism and Technology

Comunitat Valenciana Digital District is an innovation hub that currently hosts about 70 technology companies, which develop products and services for different productive sectors. 50% of these companies installed in the Digital District are international, with a large presence of Finnish companies. The main goal is that, during the year 2020, more than 300 companies will be installed and adhered to the project.

The Tourism sector faces a future in which technology will be main key. The Internet of Things, mobility and geolocation, new business models, energy management, Big data and analytics, and Artificial Intelligence are technologies in which the sector is showing much interest. The technological companies that develop products and services oriented to the Tourism sector have in the Digital District and in the Region of Valencia the ideal ecosystem for the development of their projects and the recruitment of talent.

Our services to the installed companies

Companies that participate in the Digital District project have access to multiple services that support the development of their projects. Our three branches have offices, meeting and coworking rooms, and all the comforts for the daily operation of the companies. In addition, we offer a Welcoming plan, Attention, and human quality, in which we advise companies from their arrival to the Digital District on all necessary matters such as administrative procedures, housing advice, or schooling. We have a training program for companies, and different collaboration programs between installed companies and with companies and industries of the influence area. The tourism sector is one of the economic engines of the region, -the Region of Valencian is one of the autonomies with the greatest impact of Tourism in GDP-, and some workshops and demo days have been promoted with tourism companies at Digital District, to apply the digitalization born in the District to its operation. To this is added the line of collaboration initiated with the UNWTO that will work in this regard.

Distrito Digital also collaborates with ESA (European Space Agency) and is in the process of initiating new lines of work with UNTIL.

Advantages of living and working in the Region of Valencian

The Region of Valencia is a perfect environment for the development of technological projects, and a privileged place to live and work. The southern Mediterranean is an area of mature technological development, with success stories of startups and technology companies internationally. It is a region with an excellent infrastructure and one of the habitats with the highest quality of life in the world. Plus a great network of connections with the rest of Spain and Europe, with one of the most important and best connected airports in the continent.