British Airways Parent IAG Grew Its Travel Startup Accelerator Despite Crisis
Skift Take
You might have expected that the pandemic would prompt International Airlines Group (IAG) to pause its startup accelerator. But IAG's head of innovation, Dupsy Abiola, says the program gained momentum instead.
IAG (International Airlines Group) sped up its mentorship of startups as the pandemic spurred the organization to reimagine its operations and how it might use emerging technologies.
In 2020, IAG's Hangar 51 accelerated 22 startups — its largest cohort since the parent company of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Vueling debuted its startup mentorship program in late 2016. The program nurtured startups last year working on concepts such as minimizing the impact aviation has on the environment, inventing "digital queues" for social distancing, and finding more cost-efficient ways to handle luggage processing.
Accelerators, which provide early-stage startups with guidance and business introductions, used to be all about shared physical space. A key selling point for both entrepreneurs and corporate executives was the chance to rub shoulders with each other during multi-month sprints. Founders learned what executives are willing to buy from vendors, while executives encountered the energy of startup founders and discovered new technological approaches to problems.
Once the pandemic made co
