Innovation call for projects

Published on 9 June 2020      


Three winners in the final
"Safe Travel Challenge"



An air purifier, a pathogen detector, a voice interface: these innovative solutions won the Safe Travel Challenge final on 28 May 2020. This call for projects, launched by Groupe ADP and Choose Paris Region, the Paris Region international promotion and attractiveness agency, aims to find the most innovating solutions to reassure passengers at Group airports facing the Covid19 crisis.



Supporting the recovery of air traffic


309 companies from 31 countries took part in the Safe Travel Challenge. Start-ups and SMEs had one month to propose innovative solutions on the subjects of prevention, detection and new services. Objective: reassure passengers in order to boost the recovery of air traffic. 
Another challenge was to propose technologies capable of being incorporated into existing infrastructures and processes in such a way as to deploy them as quickly as possible for the benefit of as many players in the tourism ecosystem as possible.



In the space of a month, several inspiring, ambitious projects were sent to us from across the world, providing us with a powerful resource for redesigning passenger journeys and boosting public confidence in coming back to airports. We want to use all these fresh new ideas to work with entrepreneurs on a new model for airports that combines high-quality public health provision with a great traveller experience.
Edward Arkwright
Groupe ADP’s deputy CEO



Innovating projects


The Safe Travel Challenge jury, composed of major stakeholders in the ecosystem (Air France, SNCF, Accor Group, Paris Region, Groupe ADP and TAV Airport), selected one winner per theme based on the criteria of maturity, ease-of-use and speed of implementation and innovation, among others.

The winners of the three categories designated by the jury are for the Prevention category, Caspr (USA); for the Detection category, Rubix S&I (France); for the New Services category, Vivoka (France).

A special distinction was given to the finalist startup Outsight (France) with which the Ile-de-France Region and the Groupe ADP will extend their collaboration to the health application of their technology.

After working in collaboration with the Groupe ADP's business teams, the three winners will be able to test their product or service this summer in Paris airports. 



After an experimental phase in Paris, these technologies could also be shared and deployed in all the group's airports, wherever they are in the world.
Franck Mereyde
Deputy CEO at TAV Airports



Restoring passenger safety and confidence


These very promising technologies will make it possible to aim for the highest level of health safety in a passenger travel experience in which quality of service, fluidity and simplicity remain at the heart of Groupe ADP's commitments to its passengers. 



We tried to focus on solutions that were already commercialized or quickly market-ready in order to deliver, quickly, projects with a level of service and/or technological innovation that cover a customer's global experience and therefore interest the entire transport chain.
Sébastien Couturier
Groupe ADP’s Head of Innovation


Three major directions


Three major directions can be seen in all of the proposed projects:

An airport which combines the implementation of new health standards and simplicity of the passenger experience: real time monitoring of social distancing and mask wearing, Ultra-Violet (UV) disinfection.


An airport which monitors and acts on the air quality inside its terminals: air and surface disinfection technology using natural chemical reaction, new sensors for real-time air quality control.

An airport which offers contactless interfaces and services: click and collect, voice command for different services and uses at the airport, ultrasound identification application.