Lufthansa Cargo looks for innovative solutions in providing the airfreight industry with a greener future
Thu 10 Nov 2011 – Lufthansa Cargo, one of the world’s biggest airfreight carriers, has launched what it describes as an innovation platform that has the aim of developing green solutions for the industry supply chain. The airline has invited all-comers – particularly airfreight customers, logistics experts and academics – to participate in a contest and submit innovative ideas and future visions for environmental products and processes. The contest closes on December 19, after which a jury of Lufthansa Cargo experts will select the best proposals and invite winners to Frankfurt to present their ideas to a team of senior airline management. Prizes include a training session in a Lufthansa flight simulator.
The air cargo operator says the Innovation Challenge is the first open innovation and crowdsourcing activity in the airfreight industry. Crowdsourcing is defined by Wikipedia as the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to a group of people or community, through an open call, who are most fit to perform the tasks, solve complex problems and contribute with the most relevant and fresh ideas.
The criteria to be used by the jury to evaluate community ideas include feasibility, innovation spirit and novelty, cost-benefit ratio, and traceability and comprehensibility.
The airline has suggested three main questions to be considered:
Which green processes and solutions along the supply chain could take place over the short, medium and long term?
Is there additional green information required from the perspective of forwarders and/or shippers that should be offered by a cargo airline?
What will define a green airfreight carrier in 2020?
The website platform that has been set up allows the community to evaluate the ideas of others and post comments, with contributors being potentially selected as ‘Most Valuable Participant’ in the contest. Community members can also communicate with other members.
Six winners will be given round-trip economy tickets on Lufthansa to present their ideas to the jury in Frankfurt next February.
“As a global cargo airline, Lufthansa Cargo is committed to the reduction of its environmental impact,” says the carrier. “Our environmental management system is certified according to ISO 14001. Therefore we systematically monitor our environmental activities and continuously improve our processes. Also our customers are becoming more and more conscious about sustainability, and their demand for data transparency and green solutions is rising.”
