Products

After two months of research and consideration of more than 100 companies, the participants in the 2021 LaunchPad pitchfest have been selected. 15 innovative companies will make their pitch before a panel of travel industry professionals, media and investors. Below you will find introductions of the finalists as well as a list of judges.

Right-Hear: Wayfinding app that turns public spaces into accessible locations for the blind and visually impaired. Includes a platform to better manage your accessibility. (Israel)
Travel Industry Use:  Meeting venues, attractions, cruise lines, airports can geo-fence specific areas for the visually impaired.
Presenter:  Idan Meier, Founder and CEO.

We Walk:  A “smart cane” and app that can connect blind travelers to transport networks and autonomous vehicles. The cane uses clock directions, destination tracking, and detection of above-ground obstacles like trees and signs. Note: Awards Time Magazine’s 2019 Product of the Year. The company was recently acquired by Microsoft. (Turkey)
Travel Industry Use:  DMO’s can have members/partners recommend the app to visually impaired guests for audio to find restaurants, attractions within walking distance. 
Presenter:  Kursat Ceylan, Co-Founder.  

Handiscover:  Accessible hotel booking website that enables users to access rooms based on three distinct levels of disability AND a b2b accessibility CMS to manage all accessible assets. (Sweden)
Travel Industry Use: DMO’s can link to Handiscover’s hotel inventory in their area+ Hotels/suppliers can use their CMS to update accessible information in real-time.
Presenter:  Sebastien Archambeaud

WelcoMe:  An inclusive customer service app that alerts businesses when a disabled user is 15 minutes from their location. Includes information about disability and purpose of visit. Additionally, the “Button” companion app enables users to open doors and operate pedestrian crossings with their smartphones. (Scotland)
Travel Industry Use:  DMO’s can persuade their attractions, restaurants, and museum partners to engage with WelcoMe as an instantaneous training partner. And the “Button” app addresses the fact that 41% of disabled travelers name heavy doors as the greatest obstacle they encounter when traveling.  
Presenter: Gavin Neate, Founder and CEO

Alinker:  What began as an innovative non-motorized “walking-bike” designed for people with mobility challenges who are looking to maintain an active lifestyle, has evolved into a wellness ecosystem that includes Alinker yoga classes, nutrition programs supplemented by a produce farm in Kentucky that employs disabled workers. (Canada)
Travel Industry Use:  Resort Hotels, Cruise Lines can use them as innovative amenities for those using walkers and DMO’s can recommend them to city managers/recreational managers.
Presenter: BE Alink, Founder.

Mobi-Mat:  Not only does the Mobi-mat produce slip-free rollout mats for beaches for uneven surfaces, they also make floating wheelchairs for beach and water use. (France). 
Travel Industry Use:  DMO’s can recommend both products to beach and watersports nature providers to enhance their accessibility for wheelchair users. Meanwhile, hotels with pools that are not equipped with a power lift may use the floating chair as an accommodation that may reduce the chance of being sued.
Presenter: Sandrine Carpenter-Bernard, CEO.

Vispero:  Vispero has introduced the Jaws Kiosk, a portable kit that adds screen reader software, transforming self-service kiosks so they can be used by the visually impaired. (Florida, USA)
Travel Use Case: DMO’s with visitor center kiosks, as well as airports, airlines, attractions and cruise lines where self-service kiosks are widely used.
Presenter: Matt Ater, V.P. Corporate Business Development

Champion Autism Network (CAN): CAN has partnered with “Lead with Love” to prepare their industry service staff and management to serve customers on the autism spectrum through a series of affordable online training modules.
Travel Use Case:  Hotels, resorts, restaurants, and attractions can now prepare their staff to serve families with autistic children, while the CAN network can help promote them to the autism family market.
Presenter: Becky Large, Founder, Champion Autism Network.

Good Maps: GoodMaps is a wayfinding platform that uses LiDar laser-driven technology. Clients can design, edit and access their digital maps so that they are useable not only by the blind travelers to find points of interest, but also helps wheelchair users locate accessible areas such as bathrooms. (Kentucky, USA)
Travel Use Case: Theme parks, attractions, hotels and convention centers would be suitable uses cases.
Presenter: Jose Gaztambide, CEO.

Service Animal Travel Solutions: A central database for service animal verification recently launched with Alaska Airlines as their first airline partner. Once a passenger form is completed, it is stored in a proprietary database which can be used by other airlines. This was founded by Open Doors Organization and Gina Emrich, formerly accessibility and customer service specialist for American Airlines for 33 years. (Illinois, USA)
Travel User Case: Ultimately, once this is rolled out to other airlines, it will save passengers who travel with documented service animals an immense amount of time and paperwork.
Presenter: Gina Emrich, Founder.

Hidden Disabilities Sunflower:  The Sunflower icon discreetly indicates to staff and professional service providers during the travel experience that the person has a hidden disability (e.g autism, dementia, etc.) and may need additional support, help or a little more time.  Widely used in the UK by airports, hotels and retailers, they are now expanding into North America (United Kingdom).
Travel Use Case: Airports, theme parks and attractions and retail venues.
Presenter: Lynn Smith, VP Business Development

Threshold 360: With coverage of more than 100,000 locations in hundreds of destinations and over two million views daily, Threshold is the world’s largest provider of interactive 360° virtual tours. For travelers who need to “Know before they go” this is an ideal feature. 
Traveler Use Case: Destinations, conference resorts, hotels, and attractions currently use these videos for marketing purposes. Families with members on the autism spectrum can use virtual video tours to familiarize themselves and their children with a visual experience of what to expect.
Presenter: Dan Kraus, CEO.

Portl: Portl hologram is the first machine that lets people beam themselves to a location thousands of miles away and interact with people there through smartphones. (California, USA)
Travel Use Case: The technology is currently in negotiations with clients as varied as the Vatican which is considering using it for holiday services that can be beamed into churches to airports that want to teleport information service staff to museums and attractions wishing to lead tours.
Presenter: Owen Phillips, Marketing Lead

Omeo:  Arms-free electric wheelchair that uses Active Seat Control technology in which users core muscles control movement. Features include access to off-road experiences, zero-degree turning circle and battery range of 40 miles on one charge. (Australia)
Travel Use Case: Outdoor destinations, ski resorts and mountain resorts can work with the company to schedule demo day promotions for disabled visitors.
Presenter: Spring Adamo, North American Manager

Fetchy Fox: An intuitive platform and app that improves airport traveler experience by allowing wheelchair passengers to order products and food from airport vendors from the wheelchair holding area. The app can also provide data that extracts insights for airport vendors using AI. (California, USA)
Travel Use Case: Airports and Airport vendors.
Presenter: Christina Apatow, Founder

Special Innovator Presentations

AccessiBe: Using state-of-the art AI automation, a full set of accessible tools that address multiple disabilities to make websites accessible. AccessiBe has now remediated over 100,000 websites and recently raised over $28 million.
Travel Use Case:  Automation via AI enables them to offer an affordable web compliance solution to a full range of small-mid size travel industry partners/stakeholders.
Presenter: Shir Erkeling, Founder

Google Accessible Transit Routes: In addition to offering point A to point B maps and directions by car, bike, walking, and public transportation,  Google Maps has added “Accessible Routes” in six cities around the world. This and 57 other accessibility tools are featured in videos on the YouTube Accessible Playlist.
Travel Use Case: DMO’s in these six cities can promote this feature to visitors as well as locals who may not be aware of it. The playlist can be used by hotels, attractions, restaurants, and other stakeholders as training videos.
Presenter: TBA

TraveGali: An accessible hotel booking site with hotels in 18 countries, including the USA and Canada. Founded by two hotel developers who have prioritized the senior traveler, the site contains 2500 images of accessible sleeping rooms and bathrooms. They are adding over 400 hotels a month. 
Travel Use Case:  DMO and hotels can add a direct link to Travelegali on their accessibility landing page leading thereby filtering the user to only the hotels they can book.
Presenter: Rafael Blanco, Founder and CEO

The Judges

• Emcee: Srin Madipalli, former Head of Accessibility, Airbnb
• Charles Hammerman, CEO of the Disability Opportunity Fund
• Dan Feshbach, Founder of Blue Umbrella Ventures.
• Ron Pettit, Head of Accessibility, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
• Sylvia Longmire, Founder, Spin the Globe
• Zach Curry, Director of Guest Experience, Marriott
• Toby Willis, President of Accessibility, Expedia
• Jay Cardinali, Head of Global Accessibility, Disney Parks and Resorts
• Ivor Ambrose, Managing Director, European Network for Accessible Tourism
• Andrew Garnett, CEO, Special Needs Group

LaunchPad, which showcases the best in adaptive technology, products and services, is the first of four virtual TravelAbility events that will be held in 2021.  For more information on how you can attend and meet the entrepreneurs, click here.