Groupe ADP Launches Global Innovation Contest to Imagine the Airport Experience of the Future

Groupe ADP is launching the global challenge "Play Your Airport". This open innovation initiative will allow students, businesses, travellers and the group's employees to reinvent the airport experience with one common goal: creating the airport of the future.

"The diversity of communities coming together around this bold initiative makes it the first of its kind in the airport industry. It is a powerful means to scour the globe to unearth new high-potential projects capable of revolutionising the current airport model. This venture will serve to identify external and internal talents, and staff members who submit winning entries will be eligible to receive intrapreneurial guidance," said Edward Arkwright, Deputy CEO of Groupe ADP.

"Play Your Airport" was developed in partnership with Agorize, which specializes in open innovation challenges; it is the concrete representation of Groupe ADP's commitment to innovation and collective intelligence. The Innovation Hub programme is the crystallization of the new direction Groupe ADP has taken within the framework of its strategic plan "Connect 2020". This programme embodies Groupe ADP's commitment to openness, transformation and competition by focusing on three complementary pillars: OPEN, CONNECT and INVEST.

"We can't wait to see the contributions that will support our studies on the developing Paris airports, in particular Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport terminal 4 and active projects throughout our worldwide network of airports," said Edward Arkwright.

Each community will be guided by themes that Groupe ADP has identified: the city within the airport, the passenger experience, smart terminals and the "zero environmental impact" airport.

Conditions for participating in the contest can be found at the following website: www.play-your-airport.com. Challenge submissions will undergo a rigorous, multi-phase selection process. Juries will be composed of internal experts and qualified external figures. Challenge winners will be announced in January 2018.

The prize will be tailored to each individual community: The winning student team and travellers will receive plane tickets for a trip around the world. Businesses will receive up to €40,000 in funding and support for a project in the experimentation phase. Employees will receive a study trip to the innovation capital of the world—Silicon Valley.

More on the Innovation Hub programme pillars

OPEN: focused on propagating a culture of innovation and establishing an ecosystem of partners (incubators, academics, competition hubs, think tanks, etc.)

CONNECT: dedicated to sourcing, training and experimentation with innovative start-ups and SMEs

INVEST: created to take minority stakes in companies in order to establish strategic partnerships through ADP INVEST, the €16 million internal fund. ADP Invest provided funding for Pacifa Decisions, Egidium Technologies and, more recently, Safety Line—a French company that analyses data for the aviation and aeronautics sectors. Groupe ADP also serves as underwriter for three complementary external funds: X-Ange Capital 2 (SIPAREX), Cathay Innovation and Ellaia Delta.