IATA Air Cargo Innovation Award winners revealed

LATAM Cargo and Swiss Airtainer (SAT) were named winners of the IATA Air Cargo Innovation Awards for 2023 at the 16th IATA World Cargo Symposium (WCS) in Istanbul, Turkey.

LATAM Cargo received the Corporate Innovation Award for its plastic reduction projects in its cargo operations in Chile and Brazil, initiatives that are part of its commitment to become a zero waste-to-landfill group by 2027.

SAT received the Start-ups and Innovators Innovation Award for the development of a temperature-controlled container for the transport of pharmaceutical products.

SAT “reinvented” the container from scratch with the following proprietary components: composite material (IP); architecture (IP), inflight detector (IP), control system, cooling system with redundancy, new battery packs, and a battery management system & solar panel system to render the container sustainable and energy self-sustaining.

“Innovation holds the key to development, sustainability, and success in the air cargo industry, that’s why we launched the IATA Air Cargo Innovation Awards,” said Brendan Sullivan, IATA’s global head of cargo.

“I am honoured to present the Corporate Award to LATAM Cargo for their innovation efforts in sustainability and to Swiss Airtainer for the development of an innovative temperature-controlled container for the transport of pharmaceutical goods. It’s important to recognize the individuals and companies that are driving change.”

An independent jury, which included industry experts, academics and chief executives, evaluated 42 entries from across the industry from small start-ups to large multinationals.

Projects were evaluated based upon the idea, its potential to create value, and the likelihood of achieving success.

The jury selected the winner of the Corporate Innovators Award and the three finalists for the Start-ups and Innovators Innovation Award.

The finalists presented their projects to over 500 audience members during the IATA WCS closing plenary, who subsequently cast their vote for their preferred innovation project. SAT received $15,000 to further develop their innovation.

The awards were launched in 2014 to encourage and promote innovation in the air cargo industry.