Iberia presents its Innovation HUB
- Iberia launches its Innovation HUB, a new platform that centralizes its technological, operational and sustainability commitment, using emerging technologies and new approaches to solve the challenges of the airline and tourism industry.
- The initiative highlights the work carried out for more than a decade, where Iberia is transforming the way we understand aviation, with a focus on the customer, sustainability and technology.
- Iberia's Innovation HUB works in direct collaboration with IAGi, IAG's innovation vehicle, and the rest of the group's airlines.
- In addition, it launches a new web platform from which startups, clients and collaborators can explore real cases and propose new solutions through https://www.iberia-hubinnovacion.com/
Today at Espacio Iberia Buenos Aires, the pop-up store opened by the airline in the Argentine capital, Iberia presented its Innovation HUB, a new platform that brings together and gives visibility to its entire trajectory and commitment to innovation. With this initiative, the airline seeks to consolidate itself as benchmark in technological transformation, excellence in operations, sustainability and customer experience in the aviation industry.
Inspired by the concept of large airport hubs, this new space functions as connection point for ideas, talent and technology, integrating internal innovation projects and external collaborations to face the major challenges of the sector. The Iberia Innovation HUB, which is defined by six key attributes: connected, co-piloted, cybersecure, sustainable, collective and personalized, launches a new web platform from which startups, clients and collaborators can explore real cases and propose new solutions through https://www.iberia-hubinnovacion.com/
Innovation and transformation at Iberia involve working together with all the people in the company, as well as collaborating with external national and international agents. The airline employs emerging technologies and new approaches to solve the challenges of the airline and tourism industry. This approach makes it possible to complement internal capabilities with innovative ideas that come from outside the company. Iberia's Innovation HUB works in direct collaboration with IAGi, IAG's innovation vehicle, and the other airlines in the group.
“With the Innovation HUB, we want to make visible a decade of work, alliances and learning, and at the same time project ourselves into the future with more ambition. Innovation is no longer optional: it is the path to offering maximum operational excellence, together with an increasingly personalized, efficient and sustainable experience to our customers”, says Ignacio Tovar, Director of Innovation at Iberia.
Networking with the IAG group and other innovation vehicles
The Iberia Innovation HUB has a series of vehicles that help accelerate innovation and seek to generate value for the airline's business. This HUB also connects to IAGi, the innovation vehicle of the IAG group, which brings together:
- IAGi Accelerator, an acceleration program for startups, with more than 100 collaborations carried out. For the first time, the program will offer two different paths designed for global start-ups at different stages of their development, a 12-week “Deploy” modality for start-ups with ready-to-test solutions, and a 24-week “Discover” modality designed for early-stage deep tech start-ups that are developing disruptive technologies with a high potential to impact aviation. This includes sustainable aviation fuel -SAF-, carbon capture technology, single-use, fuel-efficient alternatives to plastic, and others.
- IAGi Ventures, a new corporate investment fund to invest in innovative startups in areas such as AI, automation and robotics, new experiential platforms, connectivity and IoT, sustainability or technological security. This investment will be one of the largest of its kind in the world and the largest made by a European airline group.
In addition, Iberia participates in several external innovation vehicles, such as Patio Campus (Europe's leading corporate innovation campus that promotes innovative projects with a positive impact on our society) and All4Zero (the first industrial innovation alliance in Spain focused on the development of technologies related to decarbonization and the circular economy).
A Decade of Open and Collaborative Innovation
The HUB allows us to explore Iberia's main innovation milestones, from pilot tests to solutions that are now part of daily operations.
- Talk it x Iberia is an application created by the Argentinian startup 'Hablalo' that allows people with some type of obstacle to interact to make their travel experience more autonomous, comfortable and functional. This app has a transcriber in which the message is written and the app converts it from text to voice and vice versa. In addition, the message can be translated into eight languages.
- Renacen, which creates the virtual reality map of the seats (3D SeatMapVR) so that customers can see the interior of the cabin when choosing their seat.
- Smartvel, which provides continuous and accurate destination information, adapting it to the constant changes in the environment.
- Technis, which uses video analytics systems to improve the operation of Premium rooms with a direct impact on the customer experience.
- Beder, which is defined as a mix between TikTok and Tripadvisor. With the help of Iberia, it has developed a platform to attract a young audience and motivate their purchase decision through content specifically designed for them is key.
Building products from the inside too
The HUB also highlights solutions developed internally by business and technology teams.
Iberia was one of the first airlines to partner with Apple Stop to integrate the information the AirTag in its operation, allowing its customers to share the location of their luggage, improving efficiency and experience.
My Iberia is a new personal area that facilitates self-management and personalization of the user experience of their flights with Iberia.
SOLIDARITY AVIOS, an initiative that allows Iberia customers to donate their Avios to an NGO.
Maridae offers a selection of Spanish wines that Iberia carries on board at special prices, also allowing them to redeem and obtain AVIOS for it.
Omni-channel, which offers a 24/7 experience through different support channels such as WhatsApp to check the status of your flight, obtain general information about your trip and carry out procedures such as check-in.
PACA (Proactive Automated Customer Assistance), which digitizes operations to automatically anticipate and manage disruptions.
With the launch of this platform, Iberia reinforces its commitment to innovation as one of the key pillars of its strategy. This HUB not only gives visibility to the work already done, but it also opens the door to new collaborations with startups, entrepreneurs and technology partners who want to provide real solutions to Iberia's challenges.
Iberia's objective is to expand its network of alliances to generate a greater impact on the business and on the customer experience, jointly developing products and services that transform the way we travel.
All this information, together with a selection of cases, collaborations and additional content, is now available on the Innovation HUB website: https://www.iberia-hubinnovacion.com/
