Lufthansa and SAP have announced an “Aviation Blockchain Challenge” aiming to explore the potential of blockchain technology in the aviation context.

"Blockchain is one of the game-changing technologies of our time, which we are systematically addressing as part of our digital strategy for the Lufthansa Group,” said Thorsten Dirks, member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG and in charge of Eurowings and Aviation Services.

“We look forward to discussing innovative solutions and initiating experiments together with our partner SAP at the Aviation Blockchain Challenge. By combining our aviation industry expertise with the blockchain technology of a world market leader, we are creating the ideal worldwide framework for addressing blockchain entrepreneurs with an affinity for travel and mobility.”

Along with Thorsten Dirks, Deepak Krishnamurthy, chief strategy officer & executive vice president of SAP, is co-sponsoring the first Aviation Blockchain Challenge.

“SAP is excited to partner with Lufthansa on this startup innovation challenge to reinvent the traveller experience, airline operations and supply chain with Blockchain. With our industry leading SAP Leonardo Blockchain platform and Lufthansa’s market leadership and expertise in Aviation, we can foster a new innovation ecosystem that can potentially transform the entire travel industry,” Krishnamurthy said.

Winning teams can get access to Blockchain-as-a-Service from SAP in order to build or improve their MVP and can utilize Lufthansa Group's industry access to all major areas of the aviation ecosystem to push their projects forward.

The offer is rounded out by a targeted mentoring program in which selected participants are supported by experts from the Lufthansa Innovation Hub and SAP.iO Berlin Foundry in the further development of their solutions.

Applicants can compete in three different categories:

1. "Traveller challenge"
In this category, ideas are sought along the entire travel chain that offer clear added value for travellers – from booking and purchasing flights to loyalty programs and airport identification. The overriding goal is to make the travel experience more efficient and seamless.
 
2. "Airline challenge" 
In this category, ideas are sought that improve airline specific operations and related processes, for example by optimizing the sharing of data across company and departmental boundaries. 
 
3. "Supplier challenge”
This category is about ideas that have the potential to rethink maintenance and related aspects of the aviation supply chain – from document tracking and digitization to the transparent verification of documentation.
 
Interested applicants will find further information on the contest and the link to the submission portal. Applications can be submitted until August 31.

The best three ideas per category will first be nominated for the mentoring program, which will start in September 2018. On October 23, 2018, teams will have the opportunity to pitch for a further collaboration at the Lufthansa Innovation Forum at Lufthansa's headquarters in Frankfurt am Main. - TradeArabia News Service