Vienna Airport – a Corporate Partner of the FTE Digital, Innovation & Startup Hub and an Airport Lab Network Partner of the FTE Baggage Innovation Working Group – is further enhancing its role as an “innovation hotspot for the digital travel world of the future”.
Whether autonomous wheelchairs, Artifical Intelligence (AI)-based photovoltaic inspection, autonomous cleaning robots or baggage check-in from home – numerous future projects for more passenger comfort and less resource consumption document the impressive five-year innovation track record of the collaboration with Plug and Play Tech Center.
The partnership between Vienna Airport and Plug and Play has been extremely productive since 2019. 15 major companies have already joined, including global players such as Airbus and SkyTeam, as well as the Vienna Insurance Group, Fraport AG, Aeroporti di Roma, Austrian Airlines and many more.
“Only innovation will create competitive advantages in the future,” said Dr Günther Ofner, Joint CEO and CFO, Vienna Airport. “Aviation in particular, like the entire travel industry, is undergoing a huge transformation process towards more passenger comfort, digitalisation and less resource consumption. Thanks to the cooperation with Plug and Play, we can look into the future with a telescope, so to speak, and prepare ourselves and all partner companies for the fully digital travel future in good time. The continuing good cooperation with Plug and Play helps to identify the necessary know-how worldwide to realise interesting digital future projects, such as autonomous wheelchairs and cleaning robots, as well as AI-based inspection of large-scale photovoltaic systems and many other AI-based services.”
Meanwhile, the Vienna Airport Conference and Innovation Center in AirportCity provides the local framework for innovation know-how. The latest addition is the first European ESA-Phi-Lab, which was recently opened at AirportCity. The aim of the ESA-Phi-Lab is to promote the commercialisation of space travel. ESA-Phi-Lab Austria will be part of a network of a total of 12 ESA Phi Labs in Europe, which will provide innovative projects and business enterprises with direct access to a variety of technology areas.
