World Innovation Summit Attracts Global Leaders to Pittsburgh to Drive Aviation Transformation

The World Innovation Summit, which began as the Aviation and Robotics Summit in 2023, has changed its name, its scope and its reach as it has evolved.

“There’s obviously more to Pittsburgh than just robotics, so why don’t we look to take this to the next level now, rebranded as the World Innovation Summit as we expand out the focus,” said Daniel Coleman, CEO and founder of Future Travel Experience, the organizer of the event in partnership with Pittsburgh International Airport.

The audience in the first year was composed primarily of people and organizations from North America, but as the word spread, so did the audience. This year, the event is more global than ever, with participants from Europe, the Middle East and Japan with 28 countries represented at the last check.

That international scope will be evident at the first event. Sean Doyle, Chairman and CEO of British Airways, will deliver the opening keynote on May 13 in an interview with PIT CEO Christina Cassotis. The summit kickoff is the first time an event will be held in the new terminal, which opens this year.

Earlier that day, conference participants can take one of three specialized tours of the new facility led by PIT experts in Design, Construction and Sustainability; Technology and Operations; and Service Design and Commercial.

“Rather than just be a generic tour, they get real insight from those who are leading the efforts in specific areas,” Coleman said. “You get that rich information on exactly why those decisions are made.”

Being able to ask questions of the subject matter experts will allow conference participants to understand “all the hours, blood, sweat and tears that’s gone into developing that new facility so they can take that information back around the world to their projects,” Coleman said. “We want to encourage those who are on their own journey of planning a new facility to be able to come and hear it from the leaders at Pittsburgh International Airport, who had to define exactly how that would work.”

One of the goals of the three-day summit is to encourage that innovation mindset.

“What’s unique about this event is that it’s bringing together the people who are passionate about driving transformation for their organizations and the wider industry,” Coleman said.

Other keynote speakers are Bernadette Berger, Director of Innovation at Alaska Airlines, and John Thornton, CEO and Co-Founder of Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, which aims to become the first commercial company to land on the moon successfully.

The summit also includes an interdisciplinary series of conference sessions, workshops, innovation tours, pitch sessions, and networking opportunities centered at Carnegie Mellon University, a world leader in robotics, AI and engineering.

“My advice is to really throw yourself into it to get inspired and make valuable connections with other innovators from around the world. There’s so much opportunity with the tours, the sessions and networking,” Coleman said.

The agenda includes sessions focusing on three core subjects: Advanced Technology, Energy and Sustainability, and Future Airports. Tours of some of the most pioneering companies headquartered in Pittsburgh, a highlight of past conferences, return. Outings are tailored to each core subject with visits to companies such as H Quest and Gecko Robotics.

“I think we’ve helped the industry understand that robotics isn’t something for tomorrow. It’s here today, and we should be moving faster in terms of leveraging it and putting it to work. We’ve been a real catalyst and accelerator for the use of robotics in the air transport world,” Coleman said.

The latest example on display at the World Innovation Summit is Pittsburgh-based Journey Robotics, which is developing a robotic baggage handling system that will be demonstrated as part of PIT’s xBridge innovation program.

Pittsburgh’s robust robotics, AI and advanced manufacturing ecosystem will also be on display during the pitch sessions facilitated by Cole Wolfson, Director of xBridge. Almost 60 startups and local innovators from around the world applied to pitch their ideas. In each session centered around one of the summit’s core subjects, the audience will vote for their favorite, with the winners going through to the closing session, where the audience will select the overall winner.

Also at the closing session, Mike Formica will address how last year’s summit has already yielded tangible results for the sector. His company, Formica ProtoFab, got a $75,000 grant pledged by the Henry H. Hillman Foundation to the Allegheny County Airport Authority Charitable Foundation to commercialize a new tracking tool tested on-site at PIT.

“Pittsburgh has a fantastic mindset to really try and do things better. It’s not lip service,” Coleman said. “A lot of people talk about innovation and caring about passengers and so on. But PIT absolutely is committed to that and goes about things in a really creative fashion.”

He said FTE embraced that commitment in 2023 when Cassotis pitched the idea of an aviation and robotics event in Pittsburgh.

“What Christina quite rightly pointed out to me was that Pittsburgh has this fantastic robotics scene. But obviously, the robotics companies in Pittsburgh don’t know what aviation needs. So we brought the most progressive technologists from the airlines and airports around the world and put them in a room with the roboticists so they can understand each other better,” he said.

“In aviation, we fundamentally all have the same challenges and opportunities. We’re all thinking about how we use technology, become more sustainable, efficient and resilient and better serve passengers. We’ll get to where we’re trying to get to a lot faster if we do it together. That’s the fundamental mission of FTE.”

Pictured at the top: Daniel Coleman, CEO and founder of Future Travel Experience.