ITALY/INTERNATIONAL. Aeroporti di Roma (AdR) is seeking further start-ups that can help transform the airport consumer experience under its Innovation Hub business accelerator programme.
The programme was launched last October, with ten candidates initially selected and a further three added by AdR. Each was offered space to develop travel projects and prototypes in a 650sq m facility at Rome-Fiumicino International Airport Terminal 1. The start-ups are working alongside airport and innovation experts, and trialling their ideas with travellers.
Following the success of the initial phase, eight new start-ups – from Italy and further afield – are now sought to join the programme in the latest stage, with initial investments of up to €105,000 on offer. Upon successful completion of projects, selected enterprises can also count on potential business opportunities of up to €2 million.
The acceleration period for qualifying start-ups will last for a maximum of eight months, and the number of proposed fields of work has been extended from the initial phase to eight topics, which are as follows:
- Predictive Maintainance: Solutions that enable preventive maintenance through the use of innovative technologies
- Enhance Terminal Processes: Solutions that enable more efficient/effective processes
- Improve Airside Operations: Solutions that improve aircraft turnaround
- Environmental Impact: Solutions that aim to reduce environmental impact and energy consumption
- Community & Sustainability: Solutions that create value for the territory, local communities and the environment
- Passenger Experience: Solutions that increase the quality offered to passengers not only at the airport but also before and after the flight
- Commercial Opportunities: Solutions aimed at increasing sales opportunities
- Disruptive Solutions: A free area where any start-up can propose a solution without any thematic constraints
Project partners in the Innovation Hub include Plug and Play, one of largest early-stage investors in Silicon Valley, PwC and LVenture Group. AdR said it plans to invest €50 million in initiatives linked to innovation.
Among the projects in the first phase was a robot that delivers food and beverages to passengers anywhere in the airport. Another, powered by solar energy, moves autonomously cleaning the terminals and, once at rest, turns into a comfortable bench to sit on.
Another innovation is a self-driving wheelchair, capable of transporting travellers with reduced mobility from the terminal entrance to their gate. There are also new and untested solutions that use artificial intelligence to make security checks and baggage handling faster and more efficient, and others that make aircraft turnarounds more sustainable, cutting emissions.
The acceleration period within the airport enables start-ups to finalise their projects and help bring them to market. They also have the opportunity to exploit the international ‘Airports for Innovation’ network of which AdR is a member, alongside the AENA group’s Spanish airports and Athens and Nice airports.
Interested start-ups can find out more and register their interest via this link. The closing date is 16 February. 
