Terms of reference

Title of the project: UNWTO Smart Solutions for Smart Destination Challenge: Stadiums
Country/countries of execution: Global
Terms and conditions – UNWTO Smart Solutions for Smart Destination Challenge: Stadiums Introduction / Background

The World Tourism Organization (hereinafter, “UNWTO”) in line with its commitment to innovation and the promotion of entrepreneurship in tourism, is holding the Smart Solutions for Smart Destination Challenge: Stadiums, in collaboration with Athletic Club de Bilbao and BEAZ.

UNWTO has among its objectives to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem and boost innovation in the tourism.

The UNWTO is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and accessible tourism for all.

The UNWTO, as the leading international organization in the field of tourism, advocates tourism that contributes to economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability, and offers leadership and support to the sector to expand its knowledge and tourism policies throughout the world.

Its members include 158 countries, 6 Associate Members and more than 500 Affiliate Members representing the private sector, educational institutions, tourism associations and local tourism authorities.

One of the current priorities of UNWTO is to promote connections among the actors that form part of the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem in tourism as a means for the generation of employment and business opportunities, as well as for the sustainable development of the sector.

Cities and regions increasingly need to generate new experiences both for their own inhabitants and for the tourists they receive annually. In this sense, large events such as concerts, sports Challenges or festivals are a unique opportunity to provide a differential offer to thousands of people simultaneously. Urban soccer stadiums are unique spaces to celebrate this type of event, since they offer an environment connected to the rest of the city’s and territory’s offer, in which in addition to having the possibility of hosting different types of activities, it provides the possibility to publicize the club’s own history and all the social, cultural, gastronomic and emotional offer of the territory.

The challenge that is defined is to be able to integrate innovative and intelligent solutions that maximize the visitor experience in this type of mega-event. Moreover, it must facilitate all the

tourist experience understood in all its process: before, during and after the enjoyment of said experience.

It also will be strategic to be able to analyze tourism flows, analyzing those that mobilized solely for the event itself, regardless of the destination city, to those who discovered that act when they were already in the region. In addition, technological solutions whose objective is to improve the security level of these tourist flows will be valued, especially taking into account the consequences that the current COVID-19 pandemic generates with respect to the development of events with a concentration of people.

In the case at hand, we will focus on the stadiums. The stadiums act as central nodes and connectors for the resources of the city and the environment. The idea is to understand them also as percussionists of a change in the current tourist model in order to design the new experiences that the tourist of the future will demand, where technology and connectivity will be the storyline without forgetting security, inclusion and sustainability.

1. Target audience

The purpose of this challenge is to capture the attention of a large number of start-ups and entrepreneurs in the sector and to facilitate the selection of those that are most relevant to the challenge we are addressing.

The projects will be selected based on various criteria, such as the degree of disruptiveness, implementation and maturity of the product, its viability, scalability, sustainability, and its interest for potential investors.

2. Participants

This challenge has two different categories, targeting in one hand all projects that are at a pree-seed stage of development (hereinafter, “Pre-Seed”) and those that have a Minimum Viable Product and a tested pilot (hereinafter, “Seed, Early Stage”). The Challenge is open to all entrepreneurs, whether individuals or legal entities, of legal age and with the legal capacity to enter into a contract. The only requirements are those established in Clause 4 of this document.

The projects must be aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations and the introduction or adaptation of digital and technological elements, and focused on one (or several) of the following areas:

  • Optimizing and maximizing the potential of Events for Tourism Development in destination
  • Smart facilities as connectors of mega events in cities and regions
  • Harnessing the impact of new technologies in smart destinations
  • Smart Solutions for sports tourism destinations
  • Football stadiums as a catalyst for regional sustainable tourism growth
  • How sport can help to re-establish flow of tourists and visitors in a city after a health catastrophe
  • Alternative and complementary business models to harness economic impact of mega event in destination
  • Smart experiences for the tourism of the future

3. Requirements

4.1. The UNWTO Resilient destinations challenge: harnessing the power of stadiums for tourism will focus on two main categories (pre-seed and seed & early stage), with the following requirements to participate:

  • Innovative/disruptive nature identified
  • Scalability potential within the business
  • Validated business model
  • Market penetration
  • Partnership potential
  • Entrepreneur/promoter team: Suitability of the promoter team, motivation and interest In addition, other selection requirements will be evaluated, such as:
  • Market and sector: Market potential; interest of the projec
  • Sustainability: an attribute that should be implemented in the services, business model, and solutions
  • Corporate Social Responsibility: business contribution

4.2. The representative must be a natural person, of legal age and with legal capacity to enter into a contract.

Not having been convicted by a final judgement, for intentional crimes, with a penalty of six months or more, insofar as the criminal responsibility has not expired.

Participants, who, initially or at any point during the programme, fail to meet any of these requirements, may be excluded from the acceleration programme, losing any option to receive any service and without the right to claim anything from UNWTO.

The data that participants provide when registering in the programme must be true, and therefore any participants whose data is incorrect or incomplete shall lose any option to participate in the programme and to receive any service.

UNWTO reserves the right not to accept or to remove from the programme, without prior notice, any participants who, in their opinion, act fraudulently, in an abusive manner, or in a manner contrary to the spirit of the programme, the principles of the United Nations or the law, third-party rights and/or good faith. Likewise, any participant or related person whose action may be contrary to the reputation or good name of UNWTO may be removed.

None of the above actions shall entitle any participant or potential participant to any right or claim whatsoever for damages, expenses incurred, etc.

4.3. The candidatures must contain the following information:

Online registration form available on the website: https://smartsolutionsforsmartdestinations.com/

Applicants must complete in English all the required fields requested in the form.

4.4. Exclusion from participation:

Those who do not comply with any of the requirements established in these terms and conditions will not be able to participate, with UNWTO having the right to exclude those who do not meet the established requirements, or even not to deliver the prize, as the case may be. Employees of UNWTO may not participate.

Minors are excluded from participating in the Challenge. UNWTO shall not be liable for any false, inaccurate, obsolete, incomplete, or erroneous data submitted by the participants. In such a case, the participant shall be automatically excluded from the Challenge, and lose the right to the enjoyment of the prize and shall not be entitled to make claims against UNWTO.

The start-ups that do not have travel insurance will not be able to participate in the semi-finals and finals.

5. Selection process – First Phase

5.1. The period for the submission of projects will begin on 27 July 2020
5.2. The tentative calendar1 is as follows:

  • Launch of the Challenge: 27 July 2020
  • Deadline for applications: 15 October 2020
  • Presentation of 20 pre-selected start-ups on the online platform: 30 October 2020
  • Selection of 10 finalists and presentation of online platform: 5 November 2020
  • Announcement of the two winning start-up in a final event held in San Mames Stadium, Bizkaia, Spain: 16 November 2020

1 All these forecasts will be subject to the current projections of the COVID-19 evolution.

5.3. The selection criteria that will be used shall be the following:

  • Ease of value capture via collaboration with the start-up/project: viability of collaboration / 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.
  • Potential business impact: potential scalability / financial return and / or development of competitive advantages for the business in the short-medium term (e.g., access to new technologies, access to technical profiles, etc.)
  • Maturity of the product/technology: Degree of startup/project comparative disruptiveness / innovation in the sector (global level); Degree of maturity of the MVP, technology or current product; Scalability potential within the business (leveraging existing resources, infrastructure, geographies, etc.); Potential value capture for the business.
  • Maturity of the team and the organization: CV of the founders / team; Degree of maturity of the business (e.g., alliances / partners, initial investments, customers, initial sales, etc.); Need for capital (e.g., funds to develop product, deadlines to finalize MVP etc.); Entrepreneurial motivation and personal interests of the founders; Internal organization and processes (e.g., use of lean / scrum methodologies, use of outsourcing)
  • Partnership Readiness: Experience in co-development of products (e.g., Collaboration with universities, companies, etc.); Experience as a provider (e.g., sale of consulting services or part of development to a third company, experience in understanding third-party problems / defined by a third party); Motivation / interest in collaborating with a corporation.
  • Sustainability: an attribute that should be implemented in the services, business model, or solutions, to avoid or minimize the environmental, economic and social impact produced by the business activity.

5.4. Based on the criteria mentioned in the previous clause, an initial screening and filtering of all participating projects will be carried out through the platform. The first pre-selection will yield 20 start-ups that will go through the next selection process mentioned in clause 5.5.

5.5. The Selection Committee will be appointed by UNWTO. It will be composed of an international network of investors, entrepreneurs and experts from UNWTO Member States and UNWTO Affiliates and strategic allies. This Committee will evaluate the proposals and

carry out the selection of 5 finalists. The list of selected projects will be announced TBC , and the selected participants will be notified individually by e-mail.

6. Selection process – Second Phase

6.1. The selection of the 10 finalist projects will be made by the jury chosen for the occasion.

6.2. The winner will go on to participate in a work process for the design of a pilot with the ATHLETIC DE BILBAO FC which must be carried out within 6 months of the winner’s appointment. In these 6 months, ATHLETIC DE BILBAO will decide on whether or not to implement the pilot project derived from said work process and reserves the right to implement the pilot.

6.3. In addition, if the winning company (ies) is domiciled in the province of Bizkaia, will have the option of being placed in the Beaz coworking space for 6 months. During this period of time they will receive advice to present their project to the different financing programmes of the Regional Government of Bizkaia and will be able to access the support services that Beaz offers for the growth and acceleration of the company.

7. Industrial and Intellectual Property and Protection of Personal Data

In case the processing of personal data is necessary for the running of the Programme, the organizers of the programme assume the following commitments:

  • To use the data communicated solely for the purpose of the start-up Challenge.
  • To ensure that the persons authorized to process personal data shall undertake to respect confidentiality and that the data will not be communicated to unauthorized third parties.
  • To take all necessary measures to provide a level of security appropriate to the risk that may arise from the processing of personal data and ensure the safety and integrity thereof, as well as to prevent their alteration, loss, accidental or unlawful destruction, treatment, disclosure or unauthorized access.
  • If there is another entity in charge of processing, to impose the same protection obligations established in the applicable regulations.
  • The participant may exercise his rights of access, rectification, cancellation and opposition by sending a postal mail to the registered office of the Organizer indicated in the heading of the present Legal Bases or sending an email to the address comm@unwto.org to contact the Organizer indicating the right that you want to exercise and attaching a copy of your Passport, National Identity Document (DNI) or equivalent documentation.

The participant expressly consents, and this through the mere fact of participating in the Programme presented herein, that UNWTO may use of his/her name in order to make the winning project known to the rest of the participants and without any remuneration being generated in his/her favour.

In submitting their applications, the project promoters guarantee that:

  • The projects are original of their authors and/or they have free disposal or ownership over them. Participants undertake to exempt the organizers from any responsibility and hold them free of liability with respect to any legal action, claim or demand that may be filed in relation to intellectual property rights or personal data of third parties with respect to the projects they submit.
  • In the event that the projects are a unitary result of the collaboration of several participants, the project will be treated as a collaborative work, with the resulting rights belonging to all of them as co-authors.
  • The participant authorizes UNWTO to upload the project summary to their respective official websites, and accepts that visitors to the web pages have access to said information in accordance with the conditions of use of said website. The participant authorizes the use by UNWTO of the name and title of his/her project, without time limit, for the purpose of being mentioned on the website or for any actions or events related in any way with UNWTO as well as for its recording in the historical archives and storage media of diverse nature of UNWTO and linked to the programme.
  • UNWTO shall not claim any ownership over the information offered or any industrial or intellectual property it may contain. The participant does not assign to UNWTO industrial or intellectual property rights derived from the projects.
  • The participant expressly authorizes UNWTO to use their personal information with the objective of sharing information with them regarding events and activities that may be of their interest.
  • The participants accept their transfer of data to the UNWTO once the contest has ended

8. Final considerations

This Programme may be modified, interrupted and/or cancelled if there are justified circumstances those so warrants. Likewise, UNWTO reserves the right to declare all or any of the benefits unawarded, in the event that no submitted project meets the expected quality, in the opinion of the decision-making team.

9. Acceptance of the terms and conditions

Mere participation in the Challengeimplies the acceptance of the entire content of these Terms and Conditions. The non-acceptance of any of the points that make up these Terms and Conditions supposes non-participation in the Challengeand, in the event of being selected and/or being declared the winner, the automatic waiver of the prize.

10. Applicable Law

These Terms and Conditions shall be interpreted in accordance with the general principles of international law, to the exclusion of any specific national law.

Nothing in these Terms and Conditions or in relation to them shall be construed as a waiver of the privileges and immunities of the UNWTO