Announced on December 11 Jetlite has been named the winner of this year’s ZAL.award for its visionary project Chronolite. The award jury recognized the project’s exceptional strength across all evaluation categories: Application, Innovation, and Collaboration. For Jetlite, a startup that grew and matured within the ZAL ecosystem, the award marks a significant milestone—underscoring how Hamburg’s global cabin-focused aviation expertise continues to spark meaningful innovation.

Innovation

Within Chronolite, a connected lighting ecosystem was developed to adapt dynamically to biological and environmental conditions along the Passenger Journey. The system links lighting infrastructures through open interfaces and IoT (Internet of Things) technologies, creating personalized lighting experiences that respond to time of day, location, and user needs. IoT-based sensors and the Chronolite Data Hub process ambient and user data in real time, while the Chronolite App and local control units translate this information into adaptive lighting behavior. This ensures illumination that seamlessly adjusts to each phase of travel — from terminal to aircraft and onward transit — creating a consistent, chronobiologically effective light environment that enhances well-being across the journey.

Application

A key focus of Chronolite is the integration of chronobiologically effective lighting into existing aircraft systems. Within the project, jetlite gained Lufthansa Technik as an associated partner, contributing expertise in cabin system integration. The lighting architecture was implemented in a full-scale aircraft mock-up equipped with Lufthansa Technik’s nice system (Network Integrated Cabin Equipment), synchronizing passengers’ individual light profiles via the Chronolite Cloud and adapting illumination to flight phases, time zones, and user needs — even offline. This demonstrates how certified cabin infrastructures can evolve toward personalized, adaptive lighting.

Another highlight of its practical implementation is the Chronolite Experience Walk at Dortmund Airport. Visitors moved through life-sized terminal, aircraft, and transit environments to experience how adaptive lighting can guide the body’s natural rhythm throughout the day. With measurable results – such as significantly reduced tiredness and improved emotional well-being – the Experience Walk vividly illustrated how Chronolite’s concept becomes a meaningful passenger experience.

Collaboration

To bring this vision to life, Jetlite established an interdisciplinary consortium of experts from research, industry, and operational practice. Chronobiologists, app developers, lighting engineers, and aviation specialists worked together from day one—ensuring that scientific insight, digital design, and real-world feasibility were developed as an integrated whole.

Lufthansa Technik’s role as an associated partner was especially significant, providing deep expertise in aircraft systems and enabling the secure connection between the Chronolite Cloud and certified cabin components. This cross-industry teamwork demonstrates how collaboration within Hamburg’s innovation ecosystem can elevate complex ideas into viable aviation solutions.

A Well-Deserved Win

By uniting scientific rigor, technological ingenuity, and strong interdisciplinary collaboration, Chronolite delivers a compelling vision for the future of air travel. It exemplifies how a former startup rooted in the ZAL community can drive meaningful progress in one of Hamburg’s core aviation domains: the aircraft cabin.

The 2025 ZAL.award recognizes Chronolite not just as an impressive project—but as a pioneering step toward healthier, more human-centered air travel.

 Chronolite was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport (BMV) from July 2022 to June 2025, with a total budget of 3.27 million EUR.

“The Hydrogen Aviation Lab is a flagship project that extends far beyond the Hamburg location, demonstrating on a real commercial aircraft what flying with hydrogen could actually look like. I am particularly pleased that a collaborative project has been honored here, highlighting the importance of interdisciplinary cooperation among multiple partners for genuine future innovations.”