Lufthansa gives tech firms a helping hand

Lufthansa Cargo has joined forces with Silicon Valley tech firm RocketSpace to encourage digital innovation in airfreight. It says it is the first freight airline globally to participate in a new Logistics Tech Accelerator which helps start-ups and corporate innovation professionals “bring the future to market.”
The carrier’s vice president product management and innovation, Monika Wiederhold, said: “We are not only fully supporting innovation and digitisation in our own company, we want to drive our industry forward as a whole.”
While Lufthansa Cargo already offers its customers electronic services of various types, “nonetheless, we see great potential for increased digitisation and services in the entire air cargo supply chain. We are keen to explore new ways together with young, highly-qualified experts from the start-up scene.”
Global corporations like Lufthansa Cargo working hand-in-hand with “disruptive start-ups” were a prime example of how industry can come together to fuel open innovation, added RocketSpace founder and chief executive, Duncan Logan. He predicted: “The Logistics Tech Accelerator will not only create cross-industry collaboration, but also create a centre of innovation excellence to empower participants to accelerate with purpose and achieve measurable results.”
Lufthansa Cargo has started an education programme for start-up firms on the air cargo industry’s objectives and plans to co-operate with selected companies and incubate ideas for a pilot program.