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XNTC Phase 4: Market Ready

 

Solving Challenges for Better
Nordic Tourism Futures

 

Stay Relevant Solution Camp

Creating solutions with more than 160 students from all over the world!

PHASE 4: MARKET-READY SOLUTIONS 

 

The final phase of XNTC brings more surprises! This phase, stretched into early spring of 2025, focuses on three key areas:  

  • Support startups and solution owners in promoting their innovations across the Nordics for further scale and distribution.  
  • Increase awareness of available solutions, of tourism as a potential market, and of the cross-Nordic innovation and tourism market potential. 
  • Ensure the legacy of XNTC lessons learned, which is why we have made a Guidebook covering it all. 

Guidebook… Huh? 

XNTC has a Guidebook in the works. And it isn’t just a collection of ideas. It’s a roadmap shaped by real-world testing innovators and the tourism industry. It captures the tips, tools, and honest lessons from the XNTC journey, offering a practical guide for tackling the challenges of innovation in tourism.  Stay tuned! It’s dropping in the new year. 😉 

Can’t wait for the Guidebook? Here’s a sneak peek at the insights XNTC gained whilst developing market-ready solutions: 

  1. You don’t need a perfect product to collaborate with the industry. Start testing early, iterate with user feedback, and improve over time. 
  2. Designing for neurodivergent users enhances experiences for everyone. Inclusivity is both ethical and profitable. 
  3. Align with industry priorities and present your solution as essential. Translate complex features into clear, tangible benefits. 
  4. Reframe broad problems (like cybersecurity) as actionable opportunities (like trust-building) to engage users and solve real needs. 
  5. Focus on listening and adapting rather than enforcing rigid solutions. In tight-margin sectors, flexibility builds stronger partnerships. 
  6. Test across the Nordics to treat the region as an extended home market. Early expansion here can validate solutions before broader scaling. 

We are mapping today’s tourism challenges to find, develop and test tomorrow’s solutions.

BACKGROUND

The Cross-Nordic Travel Contest is a project by Nordic Innovation that invites Nordic tourism sector and innovation and startup ecosystems to find solutions for the most important tourism problems and challenges. We will invite, develop and test the best and most industry-relevant solutions with the potential to strengthen the sustainability and competitiveness of the Nordic tourism industry.

See UPCOMING EVENTS to find out how you can take part.

Project News

News
03/04/2025

Webinar: Innovation for Regenerative Tourism Futures

On April 7th 2025, X Nordic Travel Contest comes together with Nordic Regenerative Tourism to explore how to sustain innovation and make real impact in Nordic tourism.
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News
02/09/2024

Removing Barriers in Tourism for Neurodivergent People through Technology

On September 12th 2024, X Nordic Travel Contest is hosting a session on how technology can break down barriers and hospitality for neuro-divergent people at TechBBQ.
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News
14/12/2023

XNTC Reykjavik Hackathon found new ideas to solve the challenges of Nordic tourism

From November 24 to 25 2023, X Nordic Travel Contest (XNTC) hosted its second hackathon of 2023, this time in Reykjavik (Iceland). In just 26 hours, a group of AI…
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NOW: PHASE 4 – MARKET-READY 

NOW: PHASE 4 – MARKET-READY 

XNTC Project

From Problems
to Solutions…

PHASE 1

CALL FOR PROBLEMS

Q1-Q3 2023

SPRING–SUMMER 2023: XNTC invited the industry to share their problems: What are the real and solvable problems that Nordic tourism industry needs to address for a more sustainable and competitive future of the sector. This involved 6 workshops across the Nordics, a survey with 140+ tourism businesses, 18 in-depth qualitative interviews and 1 academic panel with 6 members to contextualise, challenge and qualify all findings.

PHASE 2

CALL FOR SOLUTIONS

Q3-Q4 2023

FALL–WINTER 2023: XNTC was loaded with challenges from the Nordic tourism & hospitality industry, and the programme shifted focus to sourcing solutions through open innovation activities, including: Hackathons and design sprints, carried out in collaboration with universities and startup ecosystems. XNTC also mapped 400+ Nordic tourism, travel & hospitality startups to gain overview of the status of innovative solutions already available in the tourism landscape and used this to identify key trends and opportunities for further matchmaking. 

PHASE 3

PROBLEM ACCELERATORS

Q1-Q3 2024

SPRING–FALL 2024: With new solutions identified, XNTC entered a phase of unfolding solutions in customised development and test tracks. Methods applied in this phase included anything and everything from sprints to matchmaking, different kinds of product, market and partnership tests, ongoing mentoring, industry awareness activities, and new market introductions.  

PHASE 4

MARKET-READY

Q3 2024 – Q1 2025

FALL 2024 – SPRING 2025:  The final phase of XNTC stretched into early spring of 2025 with three key focus areas: 

  • Supporting startups and solution owners in promoting their innovations across the Nordics for further scale and distribution.  
  • Increasing awareness of available solutions, of tourism as a potential market, and of the cross-Nordic innovation and tourism market potential. 
  • Ensuring the legacy of XNTC lessons learned – hence this Guidebook that you are currently reading. 

All Events

X Nordic Travel Contest is initiated and funded by Nordic Innovation, an organization under The Nordic Council of Ministers. The XNTC project is led by Group NAO in partnership with Happy42 and Design Nation.