Panasonic Avionics Corporation (Panasonic) has opened its first Innovation Studio in Pleasanton, California, close to Silicon Valley, a global center for tech innovation. The Pleasanton studio is the first of five planned locations worldwide, intended to be a hub for innovation, ideation and solution-building in the IFEC sector, a space where airlines and partners can gather together to co-create the future travel experience.
Panasonic’s five Innovation Studios across the globe will each be located in close proximity to major destinations, leading universities and centres with an established innovation and start-up culture. Each studio will be a place for companies to leverage Panasonic’s workforce to prototype, showcase and evaluate product concepts, digital solutions and user experience paradigms.
David Bartlett, chief technology officer at Panasonic Avionics Corporation, stated, “Innovation is at the centre of everything Panasonic Avionics does. Our new facility in Pleasanton will play a major role in fostering our collaboration ethos, and is the first of five such hubs that will enhance and enrich the future inflight travel experience for passengers around the globe, helping travel to become the fourth place.”
“The fourth place?” Bartlett was referring to Panasonic’s rallying cry to the aviation industry to improve the experience of travel. The fourth place ties into the concept introduced in 1989 by the sociologist Ray Oldenburg, who coined the term “the third place” – the first place being home, the second work and the third a neutral zone where people can interact and collaborate with their communities. Panasonic believes that the act of travelling is the fourth place.
