Airports of the Future
An Industry-Academia collaboration initiative
They say Gen Z will change the social landscape and businesses should be quick to embrace this breath of fresh air to not fall behind. It was at this juncture that we got introduced to a bunch of talented and inspired Gen Z from Illinois Institute of Technology. As serendipitous as it might seem, Infosys and United Airlines had just the right problem statement to pique their brains.
Over the years, Industry-academia collaborations have always been at the heart of fresh and innovative possibilities that helped transform the way business’ function. Infosys has always believed in the magic of such collaborations, and this time United Airlines jumped into our bandwagon. Thus, came about the IIT-Infosys-United Airlines trio.
Over the years Illinois Institute of Technology has prided in their ability to breed exceptional tech talent. The core of IIT’s curriculum is the IPRO Program that bring forth the ideology that interdisciplinary education can help answer some of the pressing concerns that industries face today. IPRO brings students from different backgrounds such as Mechanical engineering, Advanced Math, Computer Science, Architecture and the like to work on a problem statement, urging them to use design thinking principles to find an appropriate solution.
This is the silver lining that Infosys has been looking for. Infosys understands that tech is evolving at a lightning pace and a new approach to problem solving is an absolute necessity to bringing the best deal for our clients. Therefore, when United wondered “What airports of the future would look like?”, we turned to the IIT’s IPRO students and faculty to give us a new perspective.
The last leg of the project saw the team taking the key findings and working with the leadership at United to bring and implement a couple of exciting ideas. The partnership was sponsored by Kisha Gupta, Head of Global Academic Relations at Infosys whose relationship with IIT planted the seed of the collaboration. The grand success of the partnership is incomplete without the guidance and support provided by Douglas Wills and Corey Glickman whose enthusiasm and involvement fueled the process. A special shoutout to Bo Rodda for monitoring and mentoring the students throughout the 6 weeks making it a wonderful learning exercise for all the stakeholders involved.
