ITALY. Rome Fiumicino Airport’s Innovation Hub has joined forces with its Berlin-based counterpart Lufthansa Innovation Hub for innovation projects, exchanging insights, best practices and technological expertise.
ADR Innovation Hub is the business accelerator programme at Rome Fiumicino Airport launched in 2022, while Lufthansa Innovation Hub is the digital innovation unit of global aviation conglomerate Lufthansa Group.
The partnership will see ADR Innovation Hub contribute its expertise on startup acceleration achieved through the ADR ‘Runway to the Future’ editions. Meanwhile, Lufthansa Innovation Hub will offer insights and opportunities based on its research, venture building and client-engagement activities.
The agreement outlines key areas of collaboration, including:
- Partnership regarding ADR acceleration programme ‘Runway to the Future’: This includes regular exchange about startups and innovative services, innovative projects and pilot tests as well as the parties’ respective KPIs. An example of a possible project is the exchange on service robotics, specifically with Ottonomy, a deep tech startup providing contactless deliveries using fully autonomous robots, with which both companies are already collaborating.
- Co-development of pilots: This includes scheduling tests on potential innovative solutions on a regular basis, creating common knowledge for current and future projects and coordinating the development of relevant proof of concepts in the respective companies of hardware or software solutions. This will enable both ADR and Lufthansa Innovation Hubs to collaborate not only in identifying the solutions put on the market by the most innovative startups, but also to test them, with ad hoc Proof of Concepts in both the aeronautical and infrastructural fields.
- Collaboration on startup partnerships: This includes sharing of use-cases, solutions and problems regarding the scouting and creation of new ventures, regular exchange on developments in the startup ecosystem, and knowledge sharing when it comes to trends, market dynamics and the status quo of the venture capital industry.
ADR will collaborate with Lufthansa Innovation Hub to bolster its innovation efforts in the airport sector. ADR is under the Mundys Group company managing and developing the Rome Fiumicino and Ciampino airports through its Open Innovation Model
The airport company introduced its acceleration programme ‘Runway to the Future’ in 2022, aimed at helping startups develop their solutions within the airport over an eight-month period.
Since then, the programme has attracted nearly 1,000 startups worldwide, with 60% of applicants coming from abroad.
This year the ‘Runway to the Future’ programme notably received 716 applications from 389 startups across 42 different countries.
Since the project started, ADR launched 40 pilots with startups implementing AI, automation and robotics to address particular operational and sustainability challenges at airports.
From the beginning, Lufthansa Innovation Hub has also actively pursued open innovation through knowledge sharing, collaboration and continuous exchange with the travel ecosystem.
Highlighting the important role airports play in the travel experience, the Hub previously published several airport-related research reports. It is now set to elevate its innovation efforts in this area and establish it as a primary focus of its future strategy.
Aeroporti di Roma Senior Vice President of Transformation & Technology and ADR Ventures Managing Director Emanuele Calà said: “This partnership represents a strategic collaboration in advancing the aviation industry. We are committed to collaboration as a key leverage to shape the future of the aviation industry; we are proud to work alongside Lufthansa Innovation Hub.”
Lufthansa Innovation Hub Director Partnerships and New Business Ventures Dr Stefan Nothelfer added: “As a crucial part of the travel experience, we see airports as a highly relevant field for innovation. Building on our previous venture clienting and research activities in this area, we are more than pleased about the cooperation with ADR Innovation Hub.
“We definitely aim to work even more closely with airports in the future.” ✈️
