Travel Innovation Summit 2014 Recap: What’s Hot, What’s Not and What to Expect in 2015

Summary

The US$1.2 trillion global travel industry is accustomed to innovation. New technologies have sparked imaginations and spurred thousands of companies, from startups to established businesses, to create the means to better serve suppliers and travelers. But innovations also mean challenges – in the form of disruptions and transformations to the industry – and result in successes and failures along the way.

Since 2008, Phocuswright's Travel Innovation Summit (TIS) has provided a platform for an elite group of industry visionaries to promote their ideas globally, gaining new partners, customers and suppliers in the process. And they've received monetary support; to date, 153 TIS innovators have realized more than $1.3 billion in funding
and acquisitions (excluding IPOs).

For the TIS edition held in Los Angeles on November 11, 2014, 32 innovators engaged 1,500 of the travel industry’s most influential leaders from around the globe. Each had 10 minutes to present their solutions, and then respond to questions delivered by a panel of industry veterans, dubbed the Critics Circle. A separate panel of judges also critiqued the participants on their innovations, presentations and business potential, culminating in three categories of awards: startup, emerging business and established business.1 In addition, General Catalyst awarded one innovator a $100,000 prize, Brand USA Marketing determined the recipient of the Marketing Innovation Award, and the audience decided the People’s Choice Award.