Iberia at South Summit Madrid: 10 Years Building the Most Disruptive Ecosystem

• Like every year, Iberia will be participating in the world’s most important innovation and entrepreneurship platform, South Summit Madrid 2022, which will take place from 8 – 10 June

• Over these three days, South Summit will be the top global event for the world's leading companies, startups, entrepreneurs, investors and institutions to drive innovation, build strong relationships, identify opportunities, and generate business

• At its stand for this edition, Iberia will display the solutions it is working on to promote a more sustainable and personalised travel experience through digitization and the development of new technologies

• Iberia will also attend the edition of South Summit Brazil from 4 – 6 May, with the aim of identifying talent in the Latin-American ecosystem and supporting the world’s most promising entrepreneurs, so that their businesses can take off and shape the future

• The airline is making its “On Business” company programme available to startups, offering them advantages for their travel like special discounts

• In addition to its collaboration with South Summit, Iberia is taking part in Hangar 51, the startup collaboration programme of the IAG Group

In the past decade, South Summit has established itself as a leading platform and meeting place for entrepreneurship and innovation worldwide, which brings together the most disruptive startups, visionary investors, and dynamic corporations, combining, in a single ecosystem, the voice of experience with an entrepreneurial spirit.

Iberia, which never misses this event, will be present at South Summit Madrid, which will take place from 8-10 June. Here, startups, companies, speakers and investors from different industries and countries will meet, and participants will have the chance to forge strategic agreements, develop collaboration platforms, and accelerate entrepreneurial projects.

At its stand for this year’s edition, Iberia will display the solutions it is working on to promote a more sustainable and personalized travel experience through digitisation and the development of new technologies.

In addition, the airline will attend South Summit Brazil from 4-6 May, with the aim of seeking talent in the Latin-American ecosystem and supporting the most promising entrepreneurs worldwide, so that their businesses can take off and shape the future. This event will bring together 500 spokespeople, more than 1,000 startups and 80 investment funds with a portfolio of $65,000M.

Iberia supports talent

South Summit seeks to promote talent and create value by fostering collaboration between companies and startups worldwide, with a focus on open innovation. In other words, it works with startups with high potential for scalability, generating real opportunities among participants from all sectors, businesses, and countries.

Iberia is joining this endeavour and will be looking for startups at South Summit with which it might develop new products and services to improve the customer experience and innovate in the travel sector. In short, it will support the most promising entrepreneurs worldwide so that their businesses can take off.

For those attending the event in Madrid, the airline is offering a 10% discount code on flights to the Spanish capital during the days of the event. The code, which can be redeemed on iberia.com when purchasing tickets, is: SOUTHSUMMITMAD22

“South Summit is an unmissable event for us, even more so this year, when it will be celebrating its 10^th anniversary in Madrid. Iberia has been part of the selection process through which the 100 finalist startups have been chosen and we will also be part of the jury in the final, where we hope to learn about great projects on which to potentially collaborate.

“We want to continue supporting talent worldwide and to immerse ourselves in the innovative spirit of the most disruptive startups,” says Gabriel Perdiguero, Director of Customers, Transformation and Technology at Iberia.

Iberia offers “On Business” company programme to startups

After an initial trial last year, Iberia and South Summit have renewed an agreement whereby the airline makes its “On Business” company programme available to startups, with special benefits at both a corporate and private level: discounts on flights and On Business points for the company, which can be exchanged for tickets or upgrades, as well as Avios for ticket holders in their personal Iberia Plus accounts.

During the event, the airline will offer a special welcome promotion for the startups that register for the programme (conditions apply).

Sixth Hangar 51 reaches end

In addition to its collaboration with South Summit, Iberia is part of Hangar 51, IAG's startup collaboration programme.

As a result of these and other collaborations with startups, the airline has developed its iBot, which is available on iberia.com and WhatsApp as an additional channel of communication with its customers. It offers a baggage collection and check-in service with BoB; it has enlisted Deliverfly to allow customers to choose their on board meals in advance on short- and medium-haul flights; it has virtualised the cabins of the A350 and A320neo in virtual reality, so that customers can see the cabins and choose their seats, using Renacen; and it offers them the chance to obtain information on destinations and their requirements in real time through Smartvel, as well as verifying their health documentation before arriving at the airport through the Your documents app.

More recently, on 21 April, Iberia presented its Corporate Offset Programme –developed in partnership with Chooose—which will enable company personnel to travel more responsibly, offsetting the carbon emissions from their Iberia Group flights by contributing to one of two ecosystem-conservation projects, one in Guatemala and the other in Peru. The next Hangar 51 will begin in autumn, 2022.