Introducing open innovation to zero emission aviation
Widerøe Zero is to launch an Air Mobility Lab to take a leading position within customer experience and new air mobility concepts. The Lab will be an arena for open innovation and customer collaboration.
The development and introduction of new air mobility concepts will open new ways for how customers will experience their journeys. With the phase-in of zero-emission aircraft or emission-free VTOLs in the coming years, Widerøe Zero will now strengthen its focus on customer experience. With the parallel enhancement of digital experiences and mobile applications, the future air mobility journey will serve customers with new possibilities to organize and optimize their travel in real-time settings.
With emission-free air mobility, Widerøe Zero actively focuses on deeper integration of the total customer journey with door-to-door experiences. Having customer experience as the main parameter for introducing smart air mobility concepts will require Widerøe Zero to engage in deeper collaborations. With our Air Mobility Lab, we aim at researching a deeper integration with other providers of smart mobility.
In our Lab, we will be able to partner with public transport companies or suppliers of urban micro-mobility to enhance our understanding of the total air travel journey. The seamless integration of different transport modes will require a sound understanding of the customer’s experiences. With air travel usually being the main purpose of an air mobility journey Widerøe Zero aims at being the central knowledge hub for understanding our customer’s experience.
To meet these challenges Widerøe Zero is now launching a concept for an Air Mobility Lab. Bjørn Klimek, Head of Market Research and Customer Experience at Widerøe Zero, will outline and lead our Air Mobility Lab in the time ahead.
“Organizing innovation activities in form of a Lab is popular in complex and research-intensive fields like ours, smart air mobility. As we focus on giving our customers the best experiences, we do not only talk about product development but of system transition. We are one of the most central providers of regional mobility in Norway and we supply the market with important daily transport needs. With our Air Mobility Lab, we invite our customers to engage with us in designing future concepts of air mobility in their respective regions. New concepts like emission-free aircraft or VTOLs, will lead to a new air mobility mix and a seamless total experience is at the core for of our ambitions with the Lab”, says Bjørn.
A strategy for research-driven innovation
The Air Mobility Lab will have its conceptual roots in methods from innovation and transitions research and aims at delivering international state-of-the-art research on customer experience in air mobility. To develop in-depth insights, Widerøe Zero’s aim is to organise several regional Labs to study the future customer and introduce air mobility solutions that fit regional needs.
Widerøe Zero is in parallel optimizing its research activities. We are collaborating on R&D projects in different parts along of the innovation chain. As an air mobility business incubator, we are the final lead in that chain and communicate directly with our customers. With more than 3 million travel journeys per year, we will always have the customer’s needs in focus when engaging in R&D activities.