Airport Experience® News - Food & Beverage Issue 2024

“And, if that’s the case, can we generate new streams of revenue through a relationship with that start-up,” he says, adding that it’s a long term investment the airport made in trying to help this sector grow with a focus on the areas of transport, connect, clean and secure. “It really changes how an airport can not only innovate but be a catalyst for a community.” Among its early successes has been EASE, otherwise known as Enterprise Awareness & Situational Exceptions, a data-integration platform for real-time operational responses. The platform collects data to help operations teams predict customer behavior and predict problems – such as crowded TSA checkpoints – before they occur. Previously, operations members would have to use multiple websites to compile the necessary data that is now available at a single glance. CVG has been using the product itself for three years. It cannot sell the product but has partnered with a private sector firm that has helped deploy the technology at several airports, including Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RNO) and Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) . “There are several other airports that are working with our reseller on figuring out how it works and how do we actually get this up and running,” Cobb says. CVG also is leaning into automation and autonomous vehicles with the goal of finding an autonomous delivery solution for its customers. The airport worked with Piaggio Fast Forward and its Gita “follow me” robots. The robots did not end up meeting CVG’s needs, but they ultimately were deployed in five airports by AtYourGate , he says. “That’s an example of us initially trialing something, sharing it with the marketplace, letting folks know how we were using it and someone else picking up on the theme and taking it forward,” Cobb says. Early on, he adds, CVG started getting the word out by showing up at pitch competitions. Early successes have organizations reaching out to the airport via LinkedIn or email. Because many tech companies reached out – and CVG is not an expert on all things tech – it became natural for the airport to partner with a couple of the local nearby universities, including University of Cincinnati and Miami University at Oxford . “Instead of just constantly focusing on FAA grant opportunities, he says, “The universities open the spectrum for us to

understand what large opportunities that were out there in the grants world for research purposes and to tap into that opportunity to really offset the cost for trialing some of the best technology.” Meeting Own Needs First The in-house innovation at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority developed more than a decade ago out of the need to find cutting edge solutions. Much of the push was driven by the expense and static nature of existing industry products, says Goutam Kundu, chief information officer. MWAA, which operates Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), wanted a system where it could collect data much as libraries collect books, then call up in a single program what it wanted or needed at any given time. Over time, Kundu and his team were able to build a “stack” of different technologies including artificial intelligence, data analytics and other areas that were all openly accessible. From the different technologies, MWAA Labs built veriScan, an in-house biometric solution aimed at satisfying Congress’ mandate for biometric scanning capabilities. “We looked and the industry products were very expensive, very siloed,” he says. “We wanted something quick. We had over 100 international gates. We decided to build something using our decoupled strategy.” So, MWAA created veriScan, a program that couples its technologies with the camera from a $1,000 iPad that creates images that meet the requirements set forth by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol for biometric use at the airport. MWAA Labs sold the technology in 2021 for use within the industry. And ever since, MWAA has been building a lot of its own strategic products. Another product MWAA created, Kundu says, uses a single app to control 5,000 monitors and screens across each airport and their terminals. The product resulted in significant cost savings and eliminated inconsistencies from screens that previously were handled in different places. The screens can be partitioned to show advertising on one portion of the screen, and they are tailored such that if there is an active incident in one terminal, that particular zone of screens can be controlled separately for messaging purposes.

Top: AlgenAir developed its first commercial-sized aerium, which uses algae to reduce carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, at Pittsburgh International Airport.

Between one-third and 40 percent of projects eventually get handed off to a PIT business unit with interest in continued discussions, Wolfson says, adding that a smaller percentage enter ongoing relationships. CVG’s Partnerships Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) had a record breaking year in 2018 as the fourth largest hub in the world for a single airline. Then, Delta Air Lines dehubbed CVG in favor of other growing markets. The airport needed to find other ways to build back up. One strategy that grew through that time of evolution was CVG.ai, an innovation program through which the airport created a living laboratory aimed at giving startups a faster road to market, says Brian Cobb, CVG’s chief information officer. Above: BioFlyte, which screens the air for more than 1,100 toxins, viruses and bacteria, was tested through Pittsburgh International Airport’s xBridge innovation program.

46

AX NEWS JUNE 2024