Due to varying levels of risk tolerance, financial means, or technical capabilities, not all airport operators have the same approach to innovation. Understandably, this impacts what types of technology solutions these operators can deploy. Numerous factors influence what types of technology solutions an airport operator may be interested in investigating. While some airports may be categorized as more aggressive in pursuing innovation, other airports are more risk averse.
The following technology adoption categories define levels of aggressiveness that airports have toward the pursuit and implementation of transformative technologies. Airport organizations in these categories take different strategies when pursuing innovation, focusing more on either reducing risk or leading the industry.
Innovative
Innovative organizations place emphasis on early adoption of technology and pioneering new solutions in the industry. Innovative organizations have developed internal tracking programs that continually research the development of innovations and the impact they are having in other industries. They also provide a leadership role in the aviation industry by developing concepts and performing pilot tests to establish use cases that provide a basis for strategic organizations to begin to evaluate. Innovative airports have a unique set of circumstances and progressive leadership that enable them to be more risk-tolerant in pioneering new technologies and solutions. These organizations have the skill sets to deploy and operate new technology solutions and drive improvements. Innovative organizations have a solution-minded culture and are experienced in leveraging new technology to solve challenges.
Strategic
Strategic airport organizations monitor where technology is going and study implementations conducted by innovative and other strategic organizations to gain lessons learned and determine what trends are the most applicable to their unique environment. Strategic companies devote a portion of their time and resources to innovation and may deploy smaller-scale pilots to better understand emerging technologies. A growing number of airports that fall into the strategic category are exploring or have begun to implement their own innovation research programs. Strategic airports focus efforts on pilots that have direct application within the airport so that they can better develop business cases to showcase their importance.
Reactive
Reactive airport organizations are highly risk averse when dealing with new technology. Whether due to the constraints of limited available capital, skill deficits, or a general leadership position of caution and conservative growth, these airport operators do not pursue technology solutions that are still considered “new” to the industry. Reactive organizations allow innovative organizations to identify and resolve challenges in the technology and display proven success before developing their own implementation plan. They also wait for strategic organizations to work out the business cases, and they allow the industry adoption rate to increase in size, as numerous solutions become available with a wealth of knowledge about procurement, installation, and operations. This allows these organizations to implement the technology more purposefully and cost-effectively than the early deployments. Reactive organizations typically do not have formal innovation research programs, as they leverage the lessons learned by peers to provide guidance.
Adoption Curve and Technology Use Cases
Technology solutions can have use cases that range in their level of innovative risk. Throughout the Technology Focus Articles series in this Publication, use cases of the researched technologies are placed in these three categories and presented accordingly. See the “Tiered Approach” article in each series of articles for each technology in the Technology Focus Articles.