The Edinburgh Futures Institute will host AIMday Tourism & TravelTech as an in-person event on 5 December 2024 at the Edinburgh Futures Institute building, 1 Lauriston Pl, Edinburgh EH3 9EF.

What is AIMday?

AIMday® (Academic Industry Meeting day) is based on workshops where challenges submitted by participating organisations around a central theme are discussed with experts from different areas of expertise.

After the event, participating academics and researchers can apply for funding from an exclusive funding call, to work with an AIMday participant on their challenge.

Read more about the AIMday Concept.

AIMday Tourism & TravelTech

Some of the most interdisciplinary, intriguing challenges are found at organisations working in the Tourism, Travel, & Festivals sector.

Examples include:

• How might AI and enhanced automation be integrated in your business, while maintaining a good customer experience?
• How might we overcome productivity and staff shortages in the tourism and travel industry?
• How might tourism become more sustainable, circular, or even regenerative for communities and the environment?
• How might residents have a voice in managing the visitor economy?
• How might we use forecasting and data analytics to improve decision-making for creating more impactful experiences in tourism?
• How might visitors be encouraged to go beyond just the well-worn paths and hotspots?
• How can the tourism industry leverage gaming technologies?

Addressing challenges connected to this sector is key to the Edinburgh Futures Institute’s contribution to the £1.3 billion Data Driven Innovation programme. Collaboration between organisations and academia, utilising EFI’s diverse interdisciplinary expertise, is key to understand, break down, and tackle these challenges. We will convene expertise in Design, Informatics, Engineering, Forecasting, Circular Economy and others from across the University of Edinburgh, providing alternative and novel approaches to these challenges.

How to participate

To participate in AIMday as a challenge-holder, you need to submit at least one challenge phrased as a question, which you wish to discuss in a small workshop setting. We welcome challenges in all aspects of Tourism, Travel, and Festivals. We would be happy to discuss your challenge idea further. Feel free to e-mail joshua.ryan-saha@ei.ed.ac.uk

Join AIMday Tourism & TravelTech to access expertise at the University of Edinburgh. Participating organisations meet teams of researchers to explore and address the specific challenges each organisation faces. Each question submitted is tackled by a multi-disciplinary group of academics and researchers with the aim of finding pathways to solutions. Get in touch with joshua.ryan-saha@ei.ed.ac.uk to help you come up with or phrase appropriate question(s).

One question, one hour, a group of academic experts: that is the AIMday format!

After the event, our academics can apply for funding from an exclusive funding call, to work with an AIMday participant on their challenge.

Register your attendance at AIMday Tourism & TravelTech by submitting your question(s) on the registration page for organisations by Thursday 31 October 2024.