Country: Greece

Category: Tourism

Project Aim: Solumbro offers the first smart parasol in the market. It is a smart device that fits on and converts parasols into Internet-of-Things devices. Solumbro smart parasols add comfort, safety, and connectivity, improving the guests’ outdoors leisure experience. The use of a Solumbro is non-obtrusive through a wristband, and powerful through a mobile app.

What is the problem to solve?

Remote areas, such as the beach, are fun and we like to spend a lot of time there—but they come with restrictions: we can’t charge our phone, keep safe our valuables, or protect our skin from the sun. We created Solumbro to bring more comfort to the beach and the pool. We believe Solumbro is ideal for (coastal) resorts, hotels, and entertainment areas like beach bars and cafe, where it can add to the unique experience that these venues offer.

What is Solumbro?

We are a team of six passionate people of diverse backgrounds, from business to software, electrical, mechanical engineering, and machine learning. We have our first version of our product ready and we are collecting sales before starting production.

How did Solumbro started?

Solumbro has been a European company from the beginning. We started brainstorming about the idea with friends from the Netherlands, we shaped our ideas further through an intensive startup boot camp with experts from all around Europe held in the Netherlands, and we started in Greece because of its developed tourism industry and the relatively lower living costs, which help bootstrapping a company.

What is Solumbro’s plan for the future?

We are trying to bring in the best of all Europe’s worlds: expertize, geographical strategy, and innovation. If Solumbro succeeds, we strongly believe that it will also be a stepping stone for Europe, for cross-border collaboration, innovation, trade, and for new jobs at geographical locations that need them the most.

CEO’s testimony

Tourism is one of the most developed industries in Greece, so representing Greece in Tourism, is big for us! We feel proud for this recognition and that we need to keep doing our best to live up to the expectations. This recognition is also a good sign that innovation and manufacturing are important for Greece, and for Europe. We believe that we do need them to keep up with the international landscape. We hope our recognition will also inspire others in Europe to follow.