Schiphol Accelerating Innovation

TU Delft + Royal Schiphol Group

Cooperation between Royal Schiphol Group (RSG) and TU Delft's Faculty of Industrial Design has existed for many years. Engineering (IDE) has been taking place since 2005. 'Samenwerkingsverband Innovatie Mainport' was established (in collaboration with KLM, TNO and NLR). After its conclusion in 2011, RSG was a partner in TU Delft's PASSME Horizon 2020 project. With this project, both parties want to take the next step.

RSG's current goal is 'Connect your world', with the ambition to create the world's most sustainable, high-quality airports. With this collaboration, RSG wants to focus on three challenges that not only serve RSG's own interests, but are of great importance for current
and future mobility challenges in society.

Challenge 1
In recent years, we have witnessed a steady development in autonomous technology and applications.

An autonomous airside requires change. Many new processes and approaches need to be developed (in steps) while working towards aspirational spaces - completely new operational realities. While the ambition of an autonomous airside is quite clear, many organisational aspects remain uncertain. The goal of RSG vab this challenge is to investigate the impact of design on organisational transformations required to implement autonomous technology and processes.

Challenge 2
The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic outbreak highlighted that life as we knew it is not as natural as we thought. Social values and realities were disrupted globally: within weeks, fixed assumptions that defined entire
companies and industries suddenly have to be re-evaluated.

The hard-hit aviation industry now faces many questions about the future of aviation and the role multimodal transport hubs play at different stages of the epidemic cycle. How does an airport (or a multimodal transport hub) play a role in pandemic control as a central point of entry into another (part of a) country? What changes in the operational process can be applied to limit the spread of viruses? The RSG goal of this challenge is to explore the (future) role of airports in (inter-)national healthcare networks in pandemic prevention, while remaining operational and keeping the passenger experience in mind.

Challenge 3
People are increasingly aware of their (individual) impact on the environment when they travel. For RSG, it is strategically essential to keep up with developments in this area. This raises questions for the future of aviation, but also offers numerous opportunities for the entire
aviation industry - in which RSG plays a role - on both a local and global scale.

With this challenge, RSG aims to provide a customer journey through an ecosystem of new, interconnected modes of transport - in a sustainable way.

This project is funded by PPP project grant. Read more here.