Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 99 | Page 59

CASE STUDY

Dubai ’ s Emirates Airline is a US $ 29 billion entity that leverages 250 + aircraft and the latest technologies to deliver exceptional passenger experience . The airline carried close to 45 million passengers , as mentioned in its last reported figures , and travels to 140 + global destinations .

While technologies are available for all global airlines , what sets Emirates apart is the care taken to select and adopt the technology that suits its passengers the best . Another driving factor is the alignment between the organisational culture and the vision of the country ’ s leadership .
“ We set the bar high for ourselves and the team and we work towards that direction ,” says Adel Al Redha , Chief Operating Officer at Emirates .
Innovation hub
For the Emirates Group , the idea of an innovation hub surfaced post Expo 2020 , by reusing the builtup Emirates pavilion that was already on-site . The innovation hub , now named as Ebdaa would be the centre of innovation , creativity , and sustainable energy , fuelling the development of advanced technologies .
The Emirates team relooked at the pavilion and assigned separate areas to various technologies . Today Ebdaa is focused on hardware that is primarily robotics , software applications that is primarily immersive and extended reality experiences , and collaboration with industry entities .
“ How we can we bring the youth , young students , young employees , interact with universities , for the development of ideas to make it practical ,” explains Al Redha . “ It is an initiative that helps the community that helps the aviation sector to really work with ideas that can reduce emission ,” for example .
Ebdaa is a template to build on that is based on the vision of the country ’ s leadership . “ We want to export this initiative from Dubai . This centre is not only for

WHILE EBDAA

IS PURELY AN EMIRATES INNOVATION

HUB , IT IS ACCESSIBLE TO

TECHNOLOGY SUPPLIERS AND

TECHNOLOGY STARTUPS .

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