Over 300 initiatives were submitted from over 84 countries. Finalists were selected from Japan, Spain, Israel, Italy and the Czech Republic, ranging from new technologies, community-based tourism development projects, software initiatives and innovation-driven agricultural sustainability projects; all contributing to the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The five selected Startups will present their pitches to investors, gastronomy tourism experts and sector stakeholders within the framework of the 5th UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism (San Sebastian, Spain) on 3 May 2019 where the winner will be selected by a jury.

The winning Startup will be invited to take part in the Culinary Action accelerator programme during the second semester of 2019, where it will benefit from the mentoring and advice of the network of experts of BCC Innovation, a workspace in LABe’s Digital Gastronomy Lab project incubator, and a grant of up to 5,000 euros to cover the cost of accommodation and travel during this period.  All finalists will also be invited to present at FIBEGA Miami 2019, the international gastronomy tourism fair (Miami, USA, 9-11 May 2019).

The 1st Global Gastronomy Tourism Startup Competition recognizes the contribution of startups in the development of a more competitive and sustainable gastronomy tourism sector that works towards achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and its 17 SDGs.

List of Finalists (in alphabetical order):

1. ARB (Italy)

ARB provides farms, institutions, organisations and associations with technical assistance and support for multifunctional agriculture, diversification of agricultural activities, and innovation projects in agriculture.

2. ARTHYLEN (Spain)

​ARTHYLEN combines deep-learning and augmented reality technologies to facilitate the recognition of fresh products exposed in supermarkets, restaurants or warehouses in real time for hotels and restaurants.

3. BITEMOJO (Israel)

​Bitemojo is an award-winning innovative mobile app that offers a self-guided culinary experience via smartphone.

4. DINIFY (Czech Republic)

​Dinify offers a multilingual menu platform in which restaurants can publish and manage menus in multiple languages in order for travelers to read and order from restaurant menus in their native languages, no matter where they are and what their languages are.

5. GINKAN (Japan)

​GINKAN (SynchroLife) is the world’s first social restaurant review app with artificial intelligence based restaurant recommendations and cryptocurrency token rewards.

List of Semi- Finalists (in alphabetical order):

1. BOTBOT (Singapore)
2. CLOUDSALE (Lebanon)
3. COOKLY (Thailand)
4. CULTIVIUM (Mauritius)
5. DINEER (Brazil)
6. ECOMMUNIA PLANET(Spain)
7. ESCAPPY TRAVEL (Colombia)
8. FOLLOW THE FOLK (Spain)
9. GET UP AND GO COLOMBIA (Colombia)
10. KIMEGASTROBOT (Spain)
11. LIMAFOODANDBOAT(Peru)
12. LINGVO&FOOD (France)
13. PLANT ON DEMAND  (Spain)
14. POLOGASTRONOMICO (Portugal)
15. TERTULIA ALGARVIA (Portugal)

Vía UNWTO