Collaborative platform for tourist entertainment companies wins “Ideias em Caixa 2016”

The Pluralo project, to create a collaborative platform between Algarve tourist entertainment companies, was the big winner of the contest “Ideias em Caixa 2016” CRIA – Division of Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer of the University of Algarve

This proposal was chosen by the jury to win the only monetary prize, in the amount of 5 thousand euros, and is one of the fifteen winners of the 5th edition of the competition. A difficult choice, considering “the high quality and degree of maturity of the projects”, which were presented by entrepreneurs from the Algarve, but also from other parts of the country and even foreigners, according to those responsible for CRIA at UAlg.

The ceremony to announce the winners and award the monetary prize to the best “Ideia em Caixa” took place last Friday, July 14th, at the Museum of Faro. An initiative in which almost all the promoters who passed the first screening and had the opportunity to improve their projects participated, with the help of CRIA, which promoted the competition with the support of Caixa Geral de Depósitos and in partnership with NERA, ANJE and IAPMEI (see below for the full list of winners and honorable mentions).

In the end, the one who had the most reason to smile was Natacha Parreira, representative of Pluralo, who spoke with the Sul Informação moments after receiving the prize of 5 euros and explained what the project consists of.

“We are developing a collaborative platform between commission agents that sell tourist activities and service providers. The objective is to help these businesses to optimize their operation and improve their daily management», revealed Natacha Parreira, who proposed this idea together with Pedro Bacalhau and João Bacalhau.

"We realized that there are many gaps in these businesses and that there was a need for a tool that could be collaborative and that would optimize the relationship between sellers and entrepreneurs, so that they can boost sales and focus efforts on having great experiences for their end customers », considered.

The target audience is tourist entertainment service providers, «but we know that, often, these commission sellers are in hotels and that this can be an interesting business for hotel units».

The promoters of the Pluralo project already have «an online platform, in the prototype stage» and are currently «testing it with some companies», in what «is something more advanced than a concept test».

«Before the end of the year, we hope to have the project already implemented in some operations, so that we can make the necessary adjustments. Any company that wants to join this pilot phase, free of charge, and contribute, is welcome», assured the co-author of the Pluralo project.

In the team behind this idea, Natacha Parreira, training designer, is responsible for the more technological part, while her partners have «a lot know-how from the point of view of the product, management and external relations'.

In this edition of the 2nd edition of “Ideias em Caixa”, the absence of projects related to the Economy of the Sea in the list of winners of the competition stands out. Suffice it to say that, in the last three editions, the projects that stood out the most are linked to this sector: sparos (2007: fish feed), caviar Portugal (2010: sturgeon aquaculture), mirabilis (2013: maternity of Portuguese oysters). In 2004, it won the project GyRad, which gave rise to a company with the same name.

“It is interesting to note that the Sea, which, in the past, was a reference sector for business creation – not least because of the region's potential and because it is an area of ​​great development for the university –, in this case, was not evident. In this edition of the competition, there were some differences: the agri-food sector stood out, tourism and ICT are also reference areas, but there was a strong incidence of Cultural and Creative Industries, with innovative and differentiating ideas», he considered Hugo Barros, director of CRIA, in statements to Sul Informação.

Altogether, 69 ideas were presented, of which 36 made it to this final stage. “It is in line with what has been our experience in the past. We had a lower overall number of applications than in the previous competition, but almost all with a high level of quality and very mature. Many of them were presented by teams already with professional and academic experience», he added.

“We continue to have a lot of very interesting ideas, from super motivated staff, even though they are in different stages of maturation, which is natural. It is now up to us to help in whatever way possible, to develop these ideas until the consolidation and growth phase”, summarized Hugo Barros.

List of winners of “Ideias em Caixa 2016”

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