Start-Up Innovation Camp 2021
14-16 November 2021, Andermatt, Switzerland
Congratulations to the WTFL Innovation Start-Up Camp 2021 winners! Five high-potential start-ups in the travel, tourism, and hospitality industry were selected among 400 start-ups from 84 countries. The award ceremony took place in Andermatt as part of the Innovation Festival, where the winners won a cash prize of 5,000 CHF and the opportunity to join the exclusive World Tourism Forum Lucerne Dealflow Tool that makes their start-ups visible to top investors.
Check out the winners in the five categories.
RECOVERING
SmartGuide, 🇨🇿
Jan Dolezal, CEO
EXPLORING
Runnin'City, 🇫🇷
Olivier Lebleu, CEO
SAVORING
Winalist, 🇫🇷
Nicolas Manfredini, CEO
LIVING
AVISIO, 🇦🇹
Johannes Ossanna, Co-Founder
IMPACTING
nornnorn, 🇹🇭
Nophol Techaphangam (Naps), Founder & CEO
26-30 APRIL 2021, ONLINE
The 5-day Start-Up Innovation Camp in April formed part of our new hybrid event “Moving Forward” an Innovation Festival by World Tourism Forum Lucerne. The Camp is an exclusive platform for start-ups to make valuable connections, showcase their solutions to the world and connect with investors. Learn more here.
Innovation is a major force for growth and development, ensuring competitiveness and providing the ingredients for lasting success. With the Start-Up Innovation Camp, World Tourism Forum Lucerne seeks the most innovative business models from around the world to capture this potential.
Selected by the jury, young entrepreneurs are invited to attend a full-day workshop in order to grow in their roles as business leaders and to receive valuable advice from experienced coaches. This provides a great opportunity to establish international contacts within a high-ranking audience and to push innovation to the next level.
“Never give up and one day you maybe get the chance to pitch in front of 550 people from all around the world! Start-Up Innovation Camp 2019 was an amazing experience. ”
success stories
Since our first Start-Up Innovation Camp back in 2015, we’ve seen several start-ups go on to achieve great success. Take a look at some of the top success stories from the past 5 years.
global himalayan expedition
““The Start-Up Innovation Camp was not only a great opportunity to meet the stalwarts of the tourism sector, but also helped us to scale our business.””
Attending the Camp in 2017 was GHE’s first exposure to the world of tourism, as the startup has always considered themselves as an energy enterprise, rather than a tourism one. Post engagement with WTFL, GHE has been recognized at various other international forums, such as winning the Tourism for Tomorrow Award of WTTC in 2018 and the World Travel Awards at WTM in 2018, London. The startup is now expanding into 2 more countries in Asia and increased their impact expeditions 3-fold to electrify more remote villages of the Himalayas in 2019.
Bidroom
““We met many interesting people during the Start-Up Innovation Camp 2017. One of these people even invested in our company afterwards! Joining Start-Up Innovation Camp was definitely a great success.””
Joining Start-Up Innovation Camp was definitely a great success." With WTFL’s support and network, bidroom has grown into a world known online booking platform. In as little as four years since winning the Start-Up Innovation Camp, bidroom secured over 15 million EUR investment, including from the billionaire Samih Sawiris, founder of the Orascom Development Group. Bidroom won over 25 awards, like Best Travel Startup in the Netherlands, Best Grown Startup in Switzerland and best foreign startup in Turkey and were mentioned by Wired Magazine as one of the hottest startups of Europe. They have grown to over 90 employees and closed partnerships with established international companies, such as Visa, IHG and Wyndham.
Indian Start-Up Innovation Camp 2019
17-18 December 2019, Bangalore, India
WTFL Indian Start-Up Innovation Camp 2019 is our exclusive event, where we are looking for start-ups with the most innovative social impact-based potential in the Indian Subcontinent. We are here to unleash entrepreneurship with a focus on innovation and sustainability.
As a start-up finalist, you have the opportunity to present your business to high profile investors, industry experts and academics to get the global attention. Qualify yourself for "5 Minutes of Fame" on the main stage.
Not only you can meet other start-ups, you can interact with TATA Trusts, IHCL, Booking.com and other organizations active in the social impact space. Build strong networks and get an investor onboard! Find out more information here:
Swiss Start-Up Innovation Camp 2019
8 November 2019, Lucerne, Switzerland
WTFL Swiss Start-Up Innovation Camp is a one-day event of start-up pitches, coaching sessions, keynote speeches and workshops for entrepreneurs. This is not just another start-up competition - it is the exchange of ideas, the gathering of the youth and experienced leaders, as well as the push for innovation to the next level.
Swiss Start-Up Innovation Camp is also in line with the "Tourism Strategy of the Swiss Confederation" and supports its special focus on start-ups in order to improve the overall productivity of Swiss tourism.
Find out more information here: swiss.startup2019.wtflucerne.org
International Start-Up Innovation Camp 2019
1-2 May 2019, prior to World Tourism Forum Lucerne 2019, Switzerland
The 4th international WTFL Start-Up Innovation Camp was held prior to WTFL 2019 on 1-2 May. We received over 250 applications from 56 different countries around the world. The international jury selected 15 most innovative start-ups and we invited them to Lucerne, where they presented their business in a form of elevator pitch in front of the jury, industry leaders and active investors.
Start-ups also received coaching sessions with experienced experts in order to grow as young entrepreneurs and countless networking opportunities. The 5 winners pitched on the main stage of the World Tourism Forum Lucerne 2019, where they were also awarded with 20’000 USD by the sponsor of the category.
Find out more information here: innovation2019.wtflucerne.org
“We met many interesting people during the Start-Up Innovation Camp 2017. One of these people even invested in our company afterwards!”
“It was great to meet other start-ups. I was particularly inspired watching the pitches of those in the Impact category. Kudos to WTFL on having the Impact category!”
Winners of Indian Start-Up Innovation Camp 2019
Winners of Swiss Start-Up Innovation Camp 2019
Winners of Start-Up Innovation Camp 2019
Winners of Swiss Start-Up Innovation Camp 2018
Winners of Start-Up Innovation Camp 2018
winners of Start-up Innovation Camp 2017
Start-Up Innovation Camp 2019 Partners
Past Events
Start-Up Innovation Camp 2019: 1-2 May 2019, Lucerne, Switzerland
Swiss Start-Up Innovation Camp 2018: 9 November 2018, Lucerne, Switzerland
Start-Up Innovation Camp 2018: 12 September 2018, Langkawi, Malaysia
Start-Up Innovation Camp 2017: 3-5 May 2017, Lucerne, Switzerland
Start-Up Innovation Camp 2015: 23-24 April 2015, Lucerne, Switzerland
“The Start-Up Innovation Camp 2017 not only brought us amazing connections and valuable product feedback, it was also an incredibly well organized event in a beautiful location. Highly recommended!”