The Start-up and Innovation Summit - previously born to service the start-up community - is changing. It is growing to reflect the needs of the market.

We are now seeing an increasing demand for less incubator-led content and a bigger push towards providing blue skies thinking, insights and solutions that address the biggest demands of the industry, without having to wait for our European Summit.

Our October event will now see us shift our focus to all things innovative and transformative, for businesses to see where new opportunities from new ideas lie.

To the backdrop of next-gen talent and innovation spend, we will launch our content-packed, insight-driven Innovation Report, and our Start-Up of the Year category will be judged live, before we explore new horizons.

As the industry continues to develop at pace, join us for a chance to stay in-the-know for what's coming next.

We look forward to welcoming you all to the White Space at The Ministry on Tuesday, October 29.

If you have any questions regarding the event please contact Dee Champaneri, darshana.champaneri@jacobsmediagroup.com

For sponsorship enquiries, please contact  Kimberley Hulbert, Kim.Hulbert@jacobsmediagroup.com

AGENDA

Networking breakfast
Opening statement from Travolution and welcome from Headline Sponsor
Panel Discussion: Travolution Innovation Report 2024 launch

The 2024 Innovation Report will offer detailed insight of who’s spending how much on what in the UK travel industry. Our excusive analysis of Office for National Statistics data will show how travel agents, tour operators, hotel companies, cruise and ferry operators, and aviation firms are spending in five areas of IT, as we continue to make amends for the effects of the pandemic. The report will also highlight the trajectory for the future and the top opportunities.

Speakers:

Clare de Bono, country manager, Amadeus UK and associate director strategy & transformation, Amadeus

James Spalding, regional director (Northern Europe & North America) flight business unit, Trip.com

Executive Interview: How we innovated to be a different business to the one pre-pandemic

This one-on-one interview will delve into how the CEO of an industry leader has transformed the way it approaches its business in order to answer its changing demands from travellers and the lesson along the way they have picked up. As part of that journey, how technology, interconnectivity and data will act as an enabler of this transformation for not just this travel giant, but others too.

Moderator:

Charlotte Lamp Davies, CEO, A Bright Approach

Speaker:

Alan French, CEO, Thomas Cook

Executive Interview: How Wyndham are innovating across the board

We hear from one of the key players in global travel, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, on how they tackle injecting innovation into their offering to boost revenue, elevate their service to guests and make their day-to-day operations run more seamlessly.

Speaker:

Dimitris Manikis, president, EMEA, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts

Practical tips you can apply to your business from Lastminute's road to success as a supplier

Join us for this session as we learn from the OTA's CCO on how it mastered its niche to go on to develop it into a secondary source of revenue. In diversifying itself, there were lots of lessons, from surprises along the way, overcoming challenges, what is needed to go from a buyer to a supplier, and brilliant case studies.

Speaker:

Martin Kleinman, supply director & chief commercial officer, Lastminute.com

Networking coffee break
Success Spotlight: My journey to now

A new segment for the Start-up and Innovation Summit. Each year, we’ll welcome back a previous winner of the Travolution Start-up of the Year award or a successful company that is now out of the start-up stage, to share important learnings from their journey to success and what their origin story looked like.

Speaker

Andy Owen Jones, MD and co-founder, Smartseer

Panel Discussion: Payments as the future of travel innovation

Breaking down barriers and friction points to result in a less fragmented user experience for travellers is critical. Payment solution providers can hold the key to this success.

How can you offer value beyond payments? What does this entail and how does it boost ROI? From rewards and loyalty to partnerships, and more, how can we address pain points for high speed, low cost and secure payments.

Speaker:

Charles Tandonnet, VP growth program of travelsoft group, Travelsoft Group

Sonia Holman, e-commerce & marketing director, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines

Roberto De Re, CEO, Travel Ledger

Start-up of the Year 2024: First round of travel start-up pitches

This session will see founders from our first round of travel start-ups each give short five-minute elevator pitches about their companies in front of a panel of industry experts who have two minutes to grill them on their plans.

Judges:

Evantia Giumba, business development director, Amadeus Launchpad and commercial director Benelux & France online, travel sellers, Amadeus

James Spalding, regional director (Northern Europe & North America) flight business unit, Trip.com

Emily Whalley, EMEA sales manager, travel & corporate payments - international, WEX

Gabriel Giscard d’Estaing, vice president, Cambon Partners

Leonardo Saroni, general partner, TravelTech VC

Ian Brooks, co-founder, Gail Kenny Executive Recruitment

Shortlist:

iWander

Hands In

Ruuts.travel

Speakspots

Chain4Travel

Lunch break

Sponsored by:


Data Powwow: How to scale your organisation’s data capability to drive revenue, efficiency and growth

We’ve heard “data is the new oil” for far too long now and we know that data is instrumental when it comes to growth opportunities but what exactly do we need to implement and how do we achieve this. This session will explore various elements that play into growing a company’s capability to deliver real results.

Panel Discussion: How do we challenge and change cyber security to not be a fad for the Travel and Tourism industry?

We'll unpack the pertinence of it and how it's not a heavy lift to reap huge rewards and benefits for both company and customer, as well as identifying the innovation going on in this area to service business better. What are the must-knows, must-haves and must-avoids.

Moderator:

Kate Harden-England, editor, Travolution

Speaker:

Nicole Pallavicini, partner – cyber – financial lines, McGill and Partners

Evelyn Williams, cyber essentials assessor, in2secure

Start-up of the Year 2024: Second round of travel start-up pitches

This session will see the founders of four travel start-ups each give short five-minute elevator pitches about their companies in front of a panel of industry experts who have two minutes to grill them on their plans.

Judges:

Evantia Giumba, business development director, Amadeus Launchpad and commercial director Benelux & France online, travel sellers, Amadeus

James Spalding, regional director (Northern Europe & North America) flight business unit, Trip.com

Emily Whalley, EMEA sales manager, travel & corporate payments - international, WEX

Gabriel Giscard d’Estaing, vice president, Cambon Partners

Leonardo Saroni, general partner, TravelTech VC

Ian Brooks, co-founder, Gail Kenny Executive Recruitment

Shortlist:

ExpectMe

RezKit

Trapi

The Trip Boutique AI

Closing statement and good-bye
Networking and coffee catch-up

SPEAKERS

Our speakers are experts drawn from leading travel and disruptive digital brands

Clare de Bono
country manager and associate director strategy & transformation
Amadeus UK and Amadeus
Roberto De Re
CEO
Travel Ledger
Alan French
CEO
Thomas Cook
Sonia Holman
e-commerce & marketing director
Fred Olsen Cruise Lines
Martin Kleinman
supply director & chief commercial officer
Lastminute.com
Charlotte Lamp Davies
CEO
A Bright Approach
Dimitris Manikis
president for Europe, Middle East, Eurasia and Africa (EMEA)
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
Andy Owen-Jones
co-founder and MD
Smartseer
Nicole Pallavicini
partner – cyber – financial lines
McGill and Partners
James Spalding
regional director (Northern Europe & North America) flight business unit
Trip.com
Charles Tandonnet
VP growth program
Travelsoft Group
Evelyn Williams
cyber essentials assessor, national cyber security centre (NCSC) cyber advisor, and IASME cyber assurance assessor
In2Secure

JUDGES

Ian Brooks
co-founder
Gail Kenny Executive Recruitment
Gabriel Giscard d’Estaing
vice president
Cambon Partners
Evantia Giumba
business development director and commercial director Benelux & France online, travel sellers
Amadeus Launchpad and Amadeus
Leonardo Saroni
general partner
TravelTech VC
James Spalding
regional director (Northern Europe & North America) flight business unit
Trip.com
Emily Whalley
EMEA sales manager, travel & corporate payments - international
WEX

SPONSORS

The Start-up and Innovation Summit's commercial partners are at the cutting edge of marketing distribution and innovative thinking