British Airways - #Curiocity

British Airways - #Curiocity

As technology is quickly changing the way we travel, airlines are increasingly immersing themselves in digital culture culture by participating in events such as TED and SXSW , establishing Digital Media Labs (Ryanair) and Innovation Hubs (Lufthansa), or co-creating new applications in ‘hack-a-tons’ (e.g, AA, Emirates, Vueling). For more, see the ‘Cool Tech’ trend in our 2014 State of Airline Marketing report. The latest iniative comes from British Airways, which has partnered with leading online source Mashable to host a Twitter challenge around the question of “What’s The Next Big Thing In Travel Technology?” BA and Mashable invited clever minds from the UK’s tech industry to tweet their most innovative idea for creating abetter travel experience, and include the tag #CurioCity , for a chance to wina trip to Austin, Texas on BA’s new B787 Dreamliner. Austin has a vibrant start-up culture, is the home of the annual SXSW event, and BA started direct flights to the city in March 2014.

Five winners – whose ideas ranged from location-based push notifications to mobile-linked biometric passports – were chosen by a panel of judges and the group’s visit coincided with Austin Startup Week.

The itinery included welcome dinners and pub crawls with members of Austin’s tech scene, a visit to local startups and to a Mashable party. Video summary of the trip here . Mashable and BA are now completing the entrepreneurial exchange by offering up a trip to London in November for four creative Austinites.