Innovation Matchmaking

Innovation Matchmaking is a new IATA innovation platform where airlines and value chain partners get the opportunity to learn about the latest innovative solutions focusing on burning industry issues.

IATA leverages its broad network of innovation players to provide targeted matchmaking webinars between technology providers (strategic partners and relevant startups) and airlines.

What is Innovation Matchmaking at IATA?

Over the years, through numerous initiatives led by subject matter experts, IATA has built a strong network of technology partners in the industry covering a broad spectrum of air transport key business areas. With the aim to further enable connections and collaboration between technology partners and airlines, Innovation Matchmaking is a platform where partners have the opportunity to present their latest solutions to members airlines.

Through a series of targeted webinars on specific business problems identified by IATA subject matter experts and our relevant industry groups, IATA Innovation Matchmaking introduces airlines to IATA-vetted technology partners who can offer solutions to reduce their costs, improve efficiency or generate more revenue for the airline industry.

So far, over 1,000 ( 4,000 including replays) individual airline representatives have attended at least one webinar, representing 80+ individual airlines!

Focus on innovation matchmaking

What is the format?

The format is a series of webinars organized around a theme with a minimum of three technology companies presenting to at least 25 airlines per webinar. Each technology provider presents their solution(s) during a 10-minute pitch followed by a 5-minute question and answer session.

All presentations and contacts are shared between presenters and audience afterwards.

What is the outcome of these matchmaking webinars?

These webinars have generated over 80 leads and on average, a technology provider pitch generated between two and five leads demonstrating the value of the program.

Who can participate in these webinars?

Member airlines, IATA strategic partners and startups can participate in these sessions.

If you are interested in joining these webinars, please email us at innovation@iata.org

A new season for the AIR Tech Player responses to COVID-19 webinar series!

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the industry, IATA scouted its innovation network and sourced startups with strong potential to support airlines during the crisis. The first innovation matchmaking was initiated through a webinar series called "AIR Tech Player responses to COVID-19 webinar series" in April 2020. Building on its success, a new season of the AIR Tech Players webinars has started.

See the program below and register here.

EPISODE 22 : Protecting revenue and reducing costs 18 November 2020 - 14:00 CEST	OpenJaw Accomodation plus International (API) Rebound
EPISODE 21 : Passenger loyalty and experience innovations 4 November 2020 - 14:00 CEST	Qibee AviLabs Merit Incentives
EPISODE 20 : Innovation in travel management, digital transformation and travel retailing 28 October 2020 - 14:00 CEST	Wondermiles Quad Optima Analytics,Inc SAP
EPISODE 19 : Improving travelers’ experience in a post- COVID world 14 October 2020 - 14:00 CEST	JR Technologies Ulysse. travel Bridgify
EPISODE 18 30 Sept 2020	Pilota/Flysafe. Download the slide deck (pdf). Road. travel. Download the slide deck (pdf). Airfree. Download the slide deck (pdf).

April to July: 17 webinars, 35+ solutions presented.

Since its inception, the AIR Tech Player Responses to COVID-19 series engaged with over 150 technology providers and showcased 35+ of those providers (through 17 free webinars), touching on many topics, including: distribution, travel retailing and marketplaces, in-flight retailing, revenue management, look-to-book, API management, subscription model, e-visas, covid/health APIs, group booking, insurance products, disruption, AI/NLP, etc.

See below recording and presentations of past webinars.

AIR TECH PLAYERS RESPONSE EPISODE 17	Biztribution — Biztribution reinvents distribution by reducing costs drastically and enabling stakeholders to recover governance over their content and their customers. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. AccesRail — The AccesRail 9B presentation will remind you of the inter-modal opportunity available to airlines through standard interline or code share cooperation with AccesRail (IATA Code 9B) and the many railway operators and extensive route networks available. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Datalex — The fast path to Dynamic Offer – unlocking and accelerating the benefits of the next BIG airline retail transformation. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video.
EPISODE 16	Plusgrade — Plusgrade, the leading provider of ancillary and merchandising solutions, provides smart upgrade and seat-blocking solutions designed to help the travel industry meet the evolving needs of today’s passengers and accelerate revenue recovery. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Zenner — Zenner develops solutions for business travel, offering 24/7 personalized travel intelligence and assistance. The company's mission is to create stress-free journeys by predicting and solving common travel pains such as flight cancellations or delays, lost luggage, long queues, and tight connections. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. GoQuo — Disrupting the airline's online booking platforms, Transaction fee model, no more surprises! Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video.
EPISODE 15 SPECIAL EDITION IATA Products	IATA Travel Industry Designator Service (TIDS) — Learn how IATA is evolving its TIDS Program to offer a standard identification solution for non-accredited travel agencies and other sellers. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Global Net Remit 5 — Airlines can stimulate travel agency sales swiftly, and incentivize issuance of vouchers or reissued tickets over refunds, preferred forms of payments, preferred distribution channels or stimulate sales in specific markets. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. IATA Data Science Training — This course will introduce you to applied data science and machine learning practices in the aviation industry, with a focus on airline finance use cases. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video.
EPISODE 14	Kyte — Kyte is a tech platform focused on enhancing airline NDC capabilities. We provide easy access to content via REST API, both for full service and low cost airlines. Our rich inventory allows travel companies to replicate flights and ancillaries on their own channels. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Winwinly — Thanks to Winwinly, leisure passengers obtain significant discounts on flights by sharing their intention to travel in advance. We then furnish this data to airlines, to allow them to monitor passengers’ demand so they can better optimize the scheduled flight volumes and the associated load factor. Our mission is to match these two worlds! Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Discover — Diners Club International has a long heritage of partnerships and innovation in the travel space. The most recent addition is the new Diners Club International travel agency and airline remittance solution. The solution has been designed based on airline and industry needs, and it is aligned with IATA Transparency In Payments standards. The solution offers a transparent and cost-efficient method for remitting funds between travel agencies and airlines. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video.
EPISODE 13	LivePerson — Helping airlines through by 1/ transitioning to an at-home workforce 2/ shifting call volume to messaging, 3/ automating interactions to extend contact center capacity and 4/ keeping customers informed to prevent churn and reduce inbound interaction volume. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Milla Travel — Next-generation TMC for SMEs; leveraging NDC to provide SMEs with a way to book quickly while easily controlling their budget. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Amadeus — Revenue management and network planning will play a major role to rebuild a profitable network. How can airlines manage the recovery and emerge stronger, while facing the added challenges of insufficient reliable data and an uncertain future? Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video.
EPISODE 12	Smartvel — Stimulate travel in the COVID-19 era and allow your passengers to travel with CONFIDENCE, both domestically and internationally. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Everis — Everis' EVA, a transformational AI Conversational Platform supporting voice and text assistants that enhances passenger experience while reducing costs. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Accelya — RM during and after the pandemic: Innovation in inventory optimization will be required for all airlines recovering from the biggest industry-wide downturn in history. Accelya provides proven, effective, and non-traditional tools that do not rely on history-based forecasts, empowering RM teams to profitably action minute by minute changes in demand across all markets. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video.
EPISODE 11 SPECIAL EDITION IATA Products	Aviation Carbon Exchange where airlines and other aviation stakeholders can trade CO2 emission reductions for compliance or voluntary offsetting purposes. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. IATA Timatic Solutions used by airlines and travel agents to verify passenger travel document requirements for their destination and any transit points. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. IATA Contactless App: Passengers can now share their identity and biometrics details with airlines, airports and border/control authorities, eliminating need for physical interaction with staff and significantly enhancing passenger experience at airport. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. IATA Financial Gateway (IFG): consolidated and cost efficient solution for airlines and travel suppliers to optimize their different payment processes. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. IATA/McKinsey Air Travel Pulse: Dashboard tracking key indicators of air travel demand rebound globally. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video.
EPISODE 10	Koala offers tailor-made insurance solutions, cutting down existing costs while offering a 21st-century travel experience to passengers. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Sherpa's API and widget integrations enables airlines to help their customers navigate the increasingly complex world of travel restrictions, entry requirements (including visas, health declarations and quarantine length), and airport/airline procedures. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Flown: Flexible “any reason” customer compensation for flight disruptions. Travelers confidently manage delays and cancellations, while airlines realize new revenue and savings opportunities. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video.
EPISODE 9	AirGo.aero: revolutionary inflight entertainment system that will replace seat back screens on major airlines in 3 years. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Gamitee offers a plug-in sharing tool for your website. Help your website create more sales, and help your customers return to travel in a convenient way, together. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Hahn Air Lines: it’s time to come back! Kick-start your incremental revenue – now. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video.
EPISODE 8	Pruvo: an AI-Driven solution that helps Airlines increase hotel ancillary revenue by converting their "flight only" customers into customers who book their flight and hotel via the airline. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Avian: an online platform allowing any OTA,TMC, or consolidator to optimize revenue from back-end incentives by automatically scanning agreements and connecting to BSP/ARC. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. FarePlace allows airlines to leverage dynamic inventory to automatically maximize the highest profit per product in real time, and boost customer value. Download the slide deck (pdf).
EPISODE 7	Flyiin is building a new, airline-powered distribution platform for all airlines to market their entire product offering to any sale channels (travel and non-travel). OTA, metasearches, lodging groups, destinations, banks etc. will use flyiin's Air Travel API to build Flights products that deliver the level of product transparency and choice long expected by air travelers. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Bakuun: intelligent booking automation for hotels and transfers in the event of flight disruption. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Holibob is a B2B marketplace for tours, experiences and attractions. We help airlines to drive incremental revenue by engaging customers through a curated content offering. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video.
EPISODE 6	30k will introduce the option to use mileage to partly pay for air fares which will help airlines generate demand and revenue through a miles+cash booking that otherwise would remain unsold due to traveller price sensitivity. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Quicket.io will show a visualization of cabins for better pre-/post-booking conversion to display cabin amenities & hygiene procedures. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. FlyNava: Jupiter, our pricing solution, can help in renegotiation of corporate contracts, and focuses on cost management and better seat management. Post COVID-19, we envisage that airlines will need enhanced focus on automation of laborious tasks and are working on specific key areas. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video.
EPISODE 5	Gordian Software simplifies air travel by enabling travel websites to offer dynamic ancillaries and bundles, upselling across online channels and increasing high margin revenue and profitability for airlines on 3rd parties. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Rubiq provides an AI-based recovery tools, helping airlines reduce operational costs and retain their customers by automating the disruption recovery process while providing self-service technologies to their passengers. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. App in the Air has created a new generation of in-flight e-commerce system, upselling passengers and increasing revenue per passenger by 30%. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video.
EPISODE 4	Bacarai’s new SmartCheck is an API service designed for travel sellers that ties airport code to COVID-19 statistics to foster booking confidence. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Duffel helps airlines to cut distribution costs and grow ancillary revenues with our next-generation distribution platform which will assist in market re-generation. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Travelfusion will showcase its tfAirlineNDC product, which provides FSCs and LCCs with a proven and cost-effective way to manage their NDC API channels. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video.
EPISODE 3	PKFare: new direct sales channel with 10k agents, instant card payment assisting cashflow, and reducing airlines distribution cost. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. CitizenPlane: assisting market re-generation by helping airlines sell their distressed inventory under the CitizenPlane brand. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. FLYR personalized offer management for market recovery scenarios. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video.
EPISODE 2	Migacore: We leverage cutting-edge machine learning with contextual data to provide demand forecasting, helping you dramatically improve revenue. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Winglet: We build a solution to overcome the look-to-book challenge thanks to our customer data expertise. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Airnguru helps airlines detect any price movement that disrupts your airline’s competitive position in any relevant market. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video.
EPISODE 1	DeepAir's TravelGrid is a Credit Management Solution that helps airlines manage customer credit, improve their cash-flow and reduce costs / dependency on middle-men. The solution enables airlines to collect their cash directly, instantly and cheaply through direct bank transfers and Inspires customers to leave their cash with airlines, through improved trust, incentives and liquidity. TravelGrid can easily connect to any PSS and is also NDC and ONE Order compliant. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Caravelo offers a subscription product incorporating all required financial and airline components and it allows airlines to define the subscription offer of their choice based on the setup they select. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video. Smooss assists with the flight cancellation process by automizing communication and reimbursement process for customers, automatically communicating via email/text regarding cancellation and reimbursement possibilities. Smooss also automatically handles the reimbursement process, saving customer support time and fees. Download the slide deck (pdf) and watch the video.