Enrollment for Acler@Tech in Portugal, a program that aims to «boost innovation in Tourism and attract investment to Portugal», are now open.
This international acceleration initiative organized by “Acredita Portugal”, which has the support of Turismo de Portugal, “has the objective of attracting the best innovation related to Tourism to the country and thus contribute to increasing the sector's competitiveness and innovation”.
Interested parties can apply until April 4th, through from the program's website.
Aceler@Tech in Portugal «is a highly selective program», aimed at «the most promising startups in the world that can boost the tourism and travel sector».
After a first phase of project presentation, which started on the 15th, during which webinars are being promoted on various topics, there will be a two-week acceleration phase, taking place in April, during which all projects registered in the initiative will have to to spend.
After this period, the 20 best proposals will be selected, which will pass to the second acceleration phase, where “they will be put in contact with several mentors with experience in business development and/or in the area of Tourism, national investors, Portuguese companies leading the sector with whom they will be able to develop Portuguese pilots and startups linked to Tourism with whom they will be able to explore synergies».
"At the same time, all projects will be empowered with key skills that will support their development in Portugal," according to the initiative's promoters.
All this will take place exclusively online.
In the end, the three best projects will receive cash prizes totaling 20 euros – 15 for the 1st, 3 for the 2nd and 2 for the 3rd.
According to Rita Marques, Secretary of State for Tourism, who attended the opening session of Aceler@Tech, «our goal is to position Portugal as the leader in Tourism on a global scale, a simple ambition that requires the combination of various resources and focus ».
«In this sense, what we have been doing through NEST – Tourism Innovation Center is to create a hub that leverages technical skills, resources, training and innovation in a single platform to support companies in the sector to be more competitive. The intervention of Turismo de Portugal is also made through the partnership developed with actors responsible for organizing acceleration programs – such as Acredita Portugal, universities and investors, which make it possible to identify good ideas and create a dynamic ecosystem in the tourism sector”, he added the ruler.
Fernando Fraga, innovation director at Acredita Portugal, considers that “competitive and innovative tourism is essential to maintain Portugal's position as a world player in the sector and to be able to overcome current challenges”.
«Programs such as Aceler@Tech allow us to stimulate innovation in our startups, identify what is best done in this context and promote its implementation in Portuguese companies. An initiative of this dimension complements the effort to be undertaken by Turismo de Portugal in the creation of improvements that make national tourism a reference on a global scale», he said.
Over the next few weeks, those interested can go online the webinars “Tourism and Wine” (3 March), “Hospitality and Tourism Support Services” (10 March), “Diversity of Regions” (17 March), “Health and Nature Tourism” (24 March) ) and “Support, financing and entry into Europe” (31 March).
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