The Zurich Airport Innovation Hub: A conversation with Coralie Klaus-Boecker

Caption: Zurich Airport

The ZRH Innovation Hub was created to strengthen the innovative power of Zurich Airport. Among other things, digitalisation brings increasingly rapid changes. The task of the Innovation Hub is to examine and prioritise the potential of new technologies, processes, and forms of cooperation for the airport system. Innovations in the market should benefit customer satisfaction, process optimisation, and efficiency as quickly as possible.

The genesis of the innovation hub

Coralie explained that the creation of the ZRH Innovation Hub was a strategic move to enhance the airport’s innovative capabilities. The rapid pace of digitalisation and the increasing complexity of the aviation industry highlighted the necessity for a dedicated innovation department. Inspired by other European airports that had successfully implemented similar initiatives, the decision was made to establish the ZRH Innovation Hub. This new department was inaugurated in November 2023 with the mission to explore and prioritise the potential of new technologies, processes, and forms of cooperation for the airport system. The goal was to ensure that innovations in the market could be quickly leveraged to enhance customer satisfaction, optimise processes, and improve overall efficiency at Zurich Airport.

A small team with a big impact

The ZRH innovation hub is a small team of three, comprising Coralie and two senior innovation managers who were recruited in February 2024. Coralie describes them as “super driven with the right mindset.”  She highlights that a strong foundation of collaboration and alignment with colleagues is essential for driving innovation. She believes they have a “good set-up to really try to make a difference.”

The hub operates with a dual mandate. Firstly, they are tasked with driving innovation within Zurich Airport Limited. Secondly, they aim to act as an orchestrator, working closely with partners to improve the entire airport. “We feel that only by joining forces and having meaningful conversations with our colleagues can we make Zurich Airport better as a whole.”

Customer feedback at the core

When the innovation team works on projects focusing on improving passenger satisfaction, a crucial part of the innovation process is understanding passenger needs and pain points. Coralie emphasised: “We don’t do anything without having conversations with our passengers.” While they use airport service quality (ASQ) results, the innovation team also meticulously go through complaints received about the airport by mail, phone and Google reviews. This deep understanding is then combined with design thinking methodologies, including on-site observation, gathering feedback and iterative prototyping.

Quick wins and strategic initiatives

The ZRH innovation hub has adopted a balanced approach, focusing on quick wins and more disruptive, long-term projects. Some of their notable quick wins include:

• Real estate app on Apple Vision OS store: ZRH was a first mover in launching a real estate app on the Apple Vision Pro in July 2024, catering to B2B purposes.
• Microsoft Copilot pilot: They have piloted Microsoft Copilot for staff, developing onboarding and training programmes to ensure staff can utilise this technology effectively. This is currently being rolled out across the organisation. “It’s very important to on-board the staff on this Gen AI journey that’s here to stay. We defined and identified use cases and saw which departments within our company could really profit from the Microsoft Copilot solution, drafting onboarding and education programmes, as well as continuous training, to make sure that people know how to use it and get value out of it.”
• Metaverse project: A metaverse project that recreates Dock A, which is due to open around 2033, adding gamification and entertainment features to generate buy-in from different stakeholders during the construction process. “The idea would be to present this experiment as 2D or immersive, depending on who wants to go how far, and try to generate some excitement around it, and ensure acceptance and buy-in. This is because it’s going to be a large construction site and there will be changes and restrictions during the construction phase that affect various partners, but it is a way that we can showcase that it’s going to bring value and ensure that they are behind us.” Coralie believes that AR/VR/MR/ER will become more relevant soon as this technology brings value both on a B2B and B2C level.

Their more strategic, long-term projects include exploring autonomous driving solutions, aiming to achieve level four autonomy for a shuttle bus for staff.

Lessons from a project that didn’t fly

She highlights the importance of understanding the bigger picture before committing too deeply to a solution: “Instead of going really deep in technology, try to take a step back, understand the bigger picture, also checking the legal, ethical aspects, perception aspects before spending too much time on the solution.”

This experience underscores the need for a holistic approach, incorporating not just technological feasibility, but also wider societal and regulatory considerations.

Key tips for airports setting up innovation hubs

When asked about advice for other airports looking to establish their innovation hubs, Coralie emphasises the importance of addressing internal barriers. A clear framework for how the innovation hub interacts with business units is key to success, and “at the end of the day, if you don’t have the buy-in of your business unit, it will not work.”

She also stresses the need to clearly define KPIs, establish an innovation funnel with stage gates and implement a functional system.

The importance of mindset when recruiting

As highlighted earlier, the right talent is critical to success, so when recruiting, Coralie says she focuses on attitude and mindset: “The skill set you can learn along the way… it’s all about personality.”

She looks for individuals who are open, relatable and can find common ground with others. An important factor, according to Coralie, is to work with colleagues to overcome obstacles to your innovation ideas, saying, “It’s about identifying that if people say no, it’s not because they don’t like you or that they’re against you, it’s because they’ve got another mandate.”

Exploring emerging technologies

Coralie also mentioned the potential of quantum computing and is looking into how this technology, which is currently being tested in the banking and logistics sectors, could be applied to airport operations, particularly in complex optimisation problems.

Fostering a culture of innovation

Coralie believes that fostering a culture of innovation starts with leading by example and with passion. She emphasises the need to engage colleagues beyond the core team, highlighting various initiatives they run, such as “lunch and learns” and “f*** up” nights, to talk about successes and failures and ensure an innovation culture is embraced throughout the organisation in order to increase the impact.

Coralie and her team at ZRH innovation hub are demonstrating how a small but dedicated team with the right mindset and a customer-focused approach can make significant strides in driving airport innovation. By balancing quick wins with long-term strategies and remaining adaptable to lessons learned along the way, they’re paving the way for an innovative and efficient future for ZRH.

About the interviewee

Credit: ZHR

Coralie Klaus Boecker is the Head of the ZRH Innovation Hub at Zurich Airport (Flughafen Zürich AG), where she leads a team focused on driving innovation.

The ZRH Innovation Hub was established in November 2023, and under Coralie’s leadership, it collaborates with various partners to implement innovative projects that benefit passengers and airport operations. One current project focuses on implementing a framework for autonomous driving.

Before taking on her current role, Coralie served as the Head of Marketing & Digital at Flughafen Zürich AG, where she was responsible for all aspects of marketing, branding, digital and customer experience. She has been with the company since 2018 and has gained extensive experience in various industries and the introduction of new technologies.