Its new Singapore office will be embarking on a six-month research stint under new partnerships with graduate business school Insead and co-working space provider WeWork.
German airline giant Lufthansa Group has opened its first foreign outpost of its digitalisation and innovation unit, Lufthansa Innovation Hub (LIH), in Singapore.
The group established the unit in Berlin in 2014 to explore and invest in new digital tech startups in the travel and mobility sector and “convert them into new business opportunities for Lufthansa”.
Its new Singapore office will be embarking on a six-month research stint under new partnerships with graduate business school Insead and co-working space provider WeWork.
Its research with Insead will focus on how new developments will impact the future of business travel, with key findings to be published in a white paper and trialled in a test project.
Pilot trials will also be planned at WeWork’s locations in Singapore, airports and online touch-points of Lufthansa Group.
LIH is currently in discussions with Singapore’s Changi Airport and Munich Airport to be included as part of trials to “validate findings under real-world conditions”.
“More than ever, Asian startups and digital enterprises are the driving force behind fundamental changes along the travel chain,” said Dr. Christian Langer, VP Digital Strategy, Lufthansa Group and managing director, Lufthansa Innovation Hub.
“With the expansion of the Lufthansa Innovation Hub, we want to become a serious part of this emerging ecosystem, just as in our home markets,” he added.
Last year, the group pooled together a 20-million-euro fund to accelerate its digitalisation “beyond the core of current business units”. LIH will also be expanding with its third office in Shanghai later this year.
Asia is already attracting the lion’s share of capital investment in travel and mobility startups. Last year, it attracted 59% of the US$43.89 billion of venture capital funding, shared Gleb Tritus, managing director, Lufthansa Innovation Hub.
The region is also home to half of the 34 travel and mobility startups that are currently valued at more than US$250 billion, with giants such as Grab, Klook and Didi.