Airports for Innovation announces the winning startups of the international competition

Airports for Innovation (A4I) – a network of global airports, announces the winning startups in the world’s first open international innovation competition for startups from around the world.

For the first time in the aviation industry, ten leading airport operators worldwide have joined forces in Airports for Innovation (A4I), to promote collaboration and innovation and share technological initiatives and digital solutions.

A4I’s ten driving companies are: Aeroporti di Roma, Aena, Athens International Airport, Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Vancouver International Airport, Munich Airport, Dubai Airports, Oman Airports, and Narita International Airport.

A4I’s first initiative was launching a joint call for startups between September 12, and October 28th, 2024. We wanted to identify new disruptive solutions that could be validated and implemented across our international hubs and eventually be proposed as new benchmarks for the entire industry.

The call was open to startups from anywhere in the world. Their innovative proposals had to provide added value in any of the four challenges defined:

• Challenge 1: Seamless Travel Experience: creating a frictionless, efficient, and highly customer-centric travel experience, from booking a flight to arrival at the final destination.
• Challenge 2: Sustainable Aviation: make airports even more sustainable and reduce their environmental impact.
• Challenge 3: Smart Luggage Revolution: develop luggage solutions that go beyond technological advances, to improve convenience, security, and sustainability for travelers.
• Challenge 4: AI-Powered Airports: enhance operational efficiency, passenger experience, and overall aviation management with Artificial Intelligence applications.

The response from the global startup ecosystem was extraordinary: 292 inspiring proposals were submitted by 283 startups from 36 different countries.

All applications received were thoroughly evaluated, and the 25 most promising startups were selected as finalists. These startups presented their proposals to all A4I members during the Pitch Days, which took place on January 27th, 28th, and 29th.

A4I announces now the winners of the first joint call. These startups will carry out pilot projects in the coming months with the airports that have opted for them. The pilots will provide useful metrics and learnings to validate the startups’ solutions in real airport environments and assess their scalability for future implementation.

This is the complete list of winners:

Challenge 1: Seamless Travel Experience

• GoodMaps. An indoor navigation platform that uses LiDAR scans and patented computer vision positioning technology, to create detailed and accessible digital maps customizable navigation experiences, available via an app that offers audio, visual and haptic instructions.

Challenge 2: Sustainable Aviation

• Janta Power is a cleantech energy company pioneering the world’s first scalable 3D solar technology. Janta’s patented system generates up to 3x more power on the same land and delivers ~50% more daily energy than traditional solar. Designed for industrial, commercial, and utility-scale use, it helps solve land scarcity, reduce energy costs, and accelerate the global transition to clean power

Challenge 3: Smart Luggage Revolution

• Pattern. Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) and an advanced software orchestration layer to optimize baggage and material movement at airports.

Challenge 4: AI-Powered Airports

• Tomorrow.io. A weather intelligence platform providing precise weather forecasting to help airports manage operations through proprietary space based observations, advanced AI-driven models, and a robust data infrastructure.
• Ultralytics is the leading force in vision AI, best known for its revolutionary YOLO (You Only Look Once) models. With over 100K GitHub stars, 85 million Pip downloads, 5 Million monthly visits, 1B images analyzed per day, and 4 Million models trained per day, Ultralytics YOLOv5, YOLOv8, and now YOLO11 have become the most widely recognized object detection models globally.

Ultralytics empowers users with easy-to-use, cutting-edge AI technology. Our mission is to simplify the use of AI, making it accessible and impactful across industries ranging from manufacturing to healthcare and more

The kick-off event, that took place on May 22nd, has been the starting point of the pilot projects. This act marked the beginning of a strategic collaboration between A4I members and the selected startups.

Over the next few months, these real airport environment tests will assess the impact and scalability of the solutions, aiming to redefine industry standards and establish a new era of innovation in the aviation sector.