Etihad Airways, the UAE’s national airline, has partnered up with the Vancouver-based award-winning startup Swae to launch iFikra.
iFikra is a pilot artificial intelligence-powered platform that aims to unlock the full potential of Etihad’s workforce by giving each and every employee the chance to contribute to innovation, according to a press release.
The new platform has been designed to promote intrapreneurship by letting employees propose innovative solutions that address the Emirati airline’s ongoing business challenges and untapped opportunities.
Tony Douglas, CEO of Etihad Aviation Group, said: “We recognise that there is an abundance of great ideas right here in our organisation and no one knows our business better than our employees, so we developed this tool to give them the platform they need to innovate. If we are operating more innovatively internally, our guests will have a far more superior experience when they choose Etihad.”
The new artificial intelligence (AI) will allow employees for the first time to form organisational strategy by voting, commenting and providing constructive feedback on their colleague’s ideas to play a direct role in the decision-making process.
Ideas created from this platform will be supported with seed funding through Etihad’s Innovate Lab, the release noted.
Etihad has been investing in AI to boost its innovation agenda to remain completive and to deliver outstanding value and choice to its guests after launching the Etihad AI Academy in partnership with Microsoft last January.