Women in Tech Startup Competition Middle East (2nd Edition)

Innovative entrepreneurship has disrupted the tourism sector, changing the ways people travel and experience destinations, and in doing so driving digitalization and sustainability. At the same time, tourism offers many opportunities for prospective entrepreneurs in tourism-adjacent sectors to grow their businesses and capitalize on the demand for goods and services from incoming tourists. The synergies between tourism entrepreneurship and innovation are well-founded and can be meaningfully strengthened. A key enabler in this regard is fostering environments for investors to empower entrepreneurs to push the sector forward.

Women in Tech 2nd Edition Theme: Creating a Sustainable Tourism Sector

This year’s theme will be directly linked with the UN Tourism Investment Framework: Investing in People, Planet and Prosperity.

Presented during World Tourism Day 2023, it reflects a growing consensus among sector stakeholders about the need to diversify away from the traditional investment framework to a new one where people (education), planet (green transformation), and prosperity (innovation) are at the center to guarantee the development of a sustainable tourism sector.

Categories

• Category 1: People & Skills | Investing in People
  • This category calls for start-ups that use environmentally friendly and sustainable approaches in education tech, tourism & travel tech, social & messaging, wellness, health, with cross-cutting benefits with tourism.
• Category 2: Green Tourism & Travel Solutions | Investing in Planet
  • This category calls for start-ups that use environmentally friendly and sustainable approaches in green tech, green infrastructure, sustainable travel & logistics, urban development, rural development, with cross-cutting benefits with tourism.
• Category 3: Market Innovators | Investing in Prosperity
  • This category calls for startups working in the areas of fintech, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR), cryptocurrency, Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain and web3 technology, digital twining and the metaverse.

Benefits

• Pitch at the UN Tourism Tech Adventure in AlUla taking place in November.
• Mentorships by UN Tourism and top partners.
• Invited to participants to any relevant new activities related to tourism, sustainability and business.
• Invited to participate in the annual Gala WITH Female Leaders to be held in Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao in 2025.
• Invited to participate in online training events and networking meetings.
• Tailored support for the startup.
• Membership in the UN Tourism Innovation Network.
• Scholarship opportunities for the Tourism Online Academy.
• Media, PR and communications benefits.
• Opportunities to speak as panelists and keynote in our events.

Targeted Startups

• Startups must be led, owned or managed by women in the Middle East, residing in any of the following countries: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen.
• Be an Idea Stage, Early Stage, or Series A startups with a minimum viable product or idea that is ready to be developed and funded.
• Have a full-time team, a tested pilot, and a business plan.
• Be scalable with potential for international growth.

For more information, visit United Nations.