As someone who has spent a career immersed in development and design – whether strategizing about airline products, specifying aircraft cabins, or collaborating on solutions for rail interiors – I’ve come to recognize the rare situations where real innovation happens.
RedCabin occupies such a space by fostering important conversations amongst the movers and shakers of the global transportation interiors supply chain. Operators, OEMs, suppliers, and designers alike assemble regularly to foster creativity and collectively identify how to improve the passenger experience while addressing challenging topics like sustainability and accessibility.
Rooted in Collaboration
Founded in 2017 by Berliner Monica Wick, RedCabin began with a simple but powerful idea: that collaboration is the engine of innovation. From its earliest summits, RedCabin has been a gathering of minds, building bridges and promoting cross-industry dialogue. Over the years, RedCabin has hosted summits throughout Europe, the Middle East, North America, and Asia. With more than 5,000 returning attendees from over 160+ countries and partnerships with more than 100 leading companies, RedCabin has established itself as a trusted space for shaping the future of mobility.
At SEKISUI KYDEX, we’re proud to have been a partner of RedCabin’s since its inception. It has grown into a globally recognized platform for innovation across aviation, rail, and automotive interiors, known for fostering collaboration and accelerating real-world solutions through its summits and working groups.
Cross-Pollination Across Industries
What makes RedCabin unique is its ability to break boundaries and share ideas across automotive, aviation, and rail. Summits are practical and action-oriented, not just theoretical. Many of the ideas born in these sessions turn into real-world solutions, such as the Accessible Lavatory concept introduced at the Aircraft Cabin Innovation Summit, or the Economy Class Seat for Passengers with Reduced Mobility, which challenged long-standing beliefs about space and dignity in air travel.
Celebrating Real Impact: The Trinity Awards
The RedCabin Trinity Awards recognize innovations with a 75% likelihood of becoming a product within two years. With an emphasis on practical, feasible, and future-ready solutions, winners are selected based on technical merit, market need, and user benefit, with a clear path to implementation.
We were thrilled to have received the first RedCabin Rail Award for Design Innovation of the Year in 2023(pictured to the right), along with our partners N+P Innovation Design, Grammer AG, and Lantal Textiles AG, which sought to revolutionize rail travel with the Nordstern seating concept. This year, we’re delighted to be nominated for our collaborative work with Munich-based design consultancy, neomind, on DB Regio’s Ideenzug Urban (Urban Ideas Train). The 2025 Trinity Awards for rail will be announced at the Prague Railway Interiors Show, November 24-25.
Earlier this month, the RedCabin Rail Summit, hosted by Omer S.p.A., took place in the beautiful city of Palermo, Italy. Highlights included a greeting on Day 1 from Palermo’s mayor, Roberto Lagollo, a tour of Omer’s immaculate manufacturing plant in nearby Carini, and an unexpectedly inspirational presentation from Ilse de Vos-van Eekeren, Program Manager – Circular Business at Dutch Railways, regarding the operator’s zero waste initiatives. The presentation fortuitously preceded a Materials Matter – Designing for the Future of Train Interiors with Purpose panel discussion facilitated by Matthias Fischer of neomind, which included SEKISUI KYDEX mass transit market business manager, Ruben Bake.
The RedCabin Aircraft Cabin Innovation Summit Europe will take place from December 2 to 4 in Dublin, Ireland, hosted by Avolon, a leading global aviation finance company. Early confirmed speakers include the Head of Customer Experience & Journey Design for Lufthansa Group, the Director – Cabin Products & Services Planning CX Management & Planning for All Nippon Airways, and representatives from major seating manufacturers, as well as Airbus and Boeing. The annual European Summit draws aviation representatives from around the globe, providing an unparalleled opportunity for conducting in-depth conversations which Aircraft Interiors Expo attendees typically are unable to continue due to aggressive meeting schedules. I plan to attend the summit in Dublin this year, along with five of my colleagues from SEKISUI KYDEX, and look forward to greeting clients and competitors alike, all of whom have formed a tight-knit family in the industry. I hope you’ll join me at the design workshop I’ll be hosting with John Walton, Editor in Chief, The Up Front, and Stephanie Faulk, Director – Sales & Marketing for Elevate Aircraft Seating.
A Community That Keeps Conversations Going
Ultimately, RedCabin is about building a community committed to transportation innovation. The relationships developed through networking, participating on panels, and hosting workshops together lead to earlier collaboration and better communication. Ideally, this interaction will result in greater success for the transportation industry overall. As Matthias Fischer, Managing Director – neomind, stated at the recent rail summit, “Don’t stick with what you have. Be brave!”
Designing the Future of Movement
Learn more about RedCabin by visiting https://redcabin.de.
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