Berne, May 30, 2022 – Two members of the NexSwiss team (Joël Iunius, Co-Founder & Marco Romano, Business Development) presented their sustainable tourism project CityTourPlayer (CTP) during the final meeting in front of the jury at the Swiss Tourism Federation headquarters. After being selected among the 10 finalist teams, the NexSwiss team stood out in the competition supported by the confederation thanks to their innovative augmented audioguide solution for public transport.

In practice, the CityTourPlayer is a tool that allows anyone, but especially transport companies, to create their own audioguide using a simple web editing software. Once created, the audioguide is available to everyone through the scan of a QR code present at each stop, for example on the line 201 of the VMCV (Vevey-Montreux-Chillon-Villeneuve). All you have to do is get on the bus and start playback. The audioguide synchronizes with the bus route through the smartphone's GPS and presents in real time, in audio and images, in the desired language, with or without subtitles, what is seen through the window.

The project was born during a trip to London. "With a friend, we were at the front of the second floor of a London bus, without any information about what we were seeing through this large window. In discussing, I then had the idea of creating a smartphone solution to solve this problem, and this without anyone having to download an application." - Joël Iunius, Co-Founder NexSwiss Sàrl ( https://joel-iunius.ch ). The first audioguided line was thus created at the end of 2020 with the Lausanne Transport on the line 24 . Since then, other lines are in project with other companies. The latest audioguide was notably created on the shores of Lake Geneva with the VMCV.

As the TL and VMCV have already experienced, the CTP transforms a simple public transport journey into an immersive, unprecedented and free experience for tourists and locals who wish to (re)discover the region. The augmented audioguide (also accompanied by 360° images) not only highlights the public transport network by presenting the heritage along the route, but also promotes the cultural activities of the region.

It is this innovative idea that won over the jury of the Innovations Generator 2.0 competition whose results were communicated today. The awarded prize of 5,000 CHF will allow to continue to develop the project and thus promote tourism in Switzerland. We would like to thank our partners as well as Vaud Promotion and the EHL innovation Village for their support.

Thanks also to the members of the jury (including Rahel Ammon, Switzerland Tourism, head of the "Product Development and Innovation" section Samuel Huber, Swiss Tourism Federation STV FST) for their interest and confidence.

Business Concept – Innosuisse is another program supported by the confederation that also ended yesterday. In this program, "you learn to think and act like an entrepreneur and to acquire the theoretical and practical expertise to create and manage your own company." This program consisted of 14 four-hour courses spread over a semester. At the end of this project, one of the participating teams is selected for a trip to Paris that will take place next fall and aims to discover other startups and innovative companies.

In this module, Joël Iunius (Co-Founder NexSwiss) was able to propose the CityTourPlayer project, and 3 students from Lausanne were able to join the project and participate in its evolution during the 14 weeks: Emilie Winter, Pak Wing Parine Cheung and Murat Tuncer. It is thanks to the team's work that the CityTourPlayer was selected at the end of the program to represent Innosuisse during the said trip.

Now, the adventure continues for NexSwiss Sàrl which not only is expanding by continuing the CityTourPlayer project in Switzerland and potentially abroad, but also is launching a new product; Pepadocs™ is an innovative platform for managing and creating digital intervention reports aimed at SMEs in the region that want to get rid of paper to automate and personalize their intervention reports. - pepadocs.com

PDF Version : PDF File

Photos and media: Google Drive link

Innovations Generator 2.0: https://innovationsgenerator.ch/media.html

Business Concept - Innosuisse:

https://www.innosuisse.ch/inno/en/home/start-up-support/start-up-training/business-concept.html

Other press releases: https://citytourplayer.com/en/press-corner

CTP In the press: https://citytourplayer.com/en/press

Contact

NexSwiss Sàrl

CityTourPlayer.com - NexSwiss.ch - pepadocs.com

citytourplayer@nexswiss.ch - joel.iunius@nexswiss.ch