Aena Ventures is an open innovation program for the acceleration of startups that meet a series of strategic challenges for the company. The call, which will be open until July 31is aimed at startups and technology companies that propose disruptive solutions to the current and future challenges of the airport sector.
The second edition of Aena Ventures is part of the Aena’s Strategic Plan for Innovation and Digital Transformation, developed to drive innovation and take advantage of technology and new business models and drive the airport of the future.
The first call for Aena Ventures received more than 250 proposals from startups of 33 different nationalities. Five of them participated in an acceleration phase, endowed with 50,000 euros and mentored by expert professionals in the airport sector. Today, four of the accelerated projects are deploying their services at airports in the Aena network.
Five key challenges in the second edition
The second edition of Aena Ventures will be focused on five main axes: sustainability, data management, digitization, efficiency and the traveler experience.
- Airport destination: solutions that allow passengers, companions and customers to expand their options related to procedures within the airport, collections and deliveries in airport environments and new products, services and experiences.
- Data Driven Airport: solutions that make it possible to get to know passengers better, have information for the continuous improvement of the airport offer, increase revenue and optimize the use of infrastructures.
- Airport efficiency: solutions and technologies that speed up passenger transit through airport processes.
- Virtual airport: innovative solutions that provide the necessary technology to digitize services, virtualize the experience and provide added value throughout the ecosystem.
- Greener airport: solutions and technologies that make it possible to offset activity and more efficiently manage airport infrastructures and their resources, with an eye on sustainability and environmental impact.
Pilot project in an airport environment
During the acceleration period, the members of the startups will work with different Aena teams to plan and execute a pilot project for each challenge. In order for startups to learn first-hand about the peculiarities of the airport environment and be able to adapt to it, during the duration of the program they will be installed in the Aena Ventures Space, at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport.
After four months of work, the participating startups will present their results to the Management Committee at Demo Day and will have the possibility of obtaining a subsequent contract with Aena to launch their project at selected airports in the Aena network.
