b'INFO TECHNOLOGYSFO49number of invitations had to be cappedis owned and operated by the city andIt was also a chance to challenge the due to the venue size, but the airport madecounty of San Francisco.status quo and demonstrate to vendors a conscious effort to cast a broad net byHindiyeh, who has previous experiencethat SFO is willing to consider new including existing partners, tech startupson the vendor side, says there is oftentechnologies and ideas. To that end, and academia. Video of the event is alsoa lack of understanding about thethe airport presented architectural work available digitally from SFOs library. Incomplexity of challenges that specificfor new database designs it has been order to share content with even moreairports face. The saying, If youve seenverifying with academia. We want to organizations, the team might livestreamone airport, youve seen one airport, isshare this information with the hope that future Tech Days.absolutely true, he remarks. We wantedwe can push the industry into a direction The day-long 2024 event includedto basically provide all the prerequisites towhere theres a lot of innovation, Hindiyeh about 10 presentations from SFOvendors so when they come in and startexplains. technology staff, who shared detailsto talk to us, they are focused exactly onCollaborationboth vendors-to-airport about expected technology needshow their products and services addressand airport-to-airportis critical to leading and challenges. Information boothsthe challenges and future concerns thatthe industry toward the right technology and networking between sessionsSFO is facing.solutions, he emphasizesprovided opportunities for attendees toAn event like this brings the discussionivanovi notes that SFOs 2024 Tech learn about the airports procurementdown to ground level and is anDay was also an opportunity to uplift and method. We wanted to demystify anyopportunity to be very open with thegive a voice to staff who dont typically misunderstandings of vendors and fillindustry about the challenges we have,interact with vendors because they knowledge gaps about what our cityHindiyeh adds.are busy creating solutions. We cant processes are, ivanovi explains. SFO AirportImprovement.comMay | June 2025'