Airbus launches latest iteration of global student challenge

European airline manufacturer Airbus, part of the wider Airbus Group, has launched the 2017 Fly Your Ideas challenge for students around the world. Fly Your Ideas seeks to stimulate co-innovation between Airbus and, where relevant, its supplier companies, and universities around the world.

"Airbus challenges students worldwide to innovate for the future of aviation," affirmed company executive VP engineering Charles Champion at the Airbus Innovation Days 2016 aviation press conference in Hamburg on Tuesday. The programme has the status of a formal partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

Fly Your Ideas competitions have previously been run in 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015. To date, they have involved more than 100 countries (including South Africa), more than 600 universities, more than 15 000 students, while more than 380 Airbus staff have participated as experts, mentors and assessors.

The objectives of Airbus for the 2017 iteration of the programme are to have a global competition that addresses real industry challenges, meets high quality standards, brings ideas to life, creates interactions between students and business, and is marked by diversity in the composition of the teams. "We insist on diversity," stated Champion.

Five challenges have been set for Fly Your Ideas 2017, all of them genuine issues facing the industry. Each challenge falls into the different category. These categories are: business models, flight operations, passenger experience, design engineering and manufacturing.

The business model challenge is: what else could be done with aircraft other than transport? The challenge for flight operations is: how can big data be used to improve the efficiency of flight operations? Regarding passenger experience, the challenge is: how can new processes or layouts ease passenger boarding and disembarking whilst increasing the capacity for luggage? For design engineering, the challenge is: how can artificial intelligence support aircraft design and /or manufacturing? Last but not least, in manufacturing, how can manufacturing be optimised to reduce waste and ensure the sustainability of resources?

The competition will have four stages -- Launch (June 2016, now under way), Round 1: Ideas collection (students, organised in teams, submit their ideas, and Airbus experts provide support), during September, which is followed by an assessment period by Airbus. Fifty teams will be chosen from this assessment process for Round 2: Ideas development, in January next year. Airbus mentors will be assigned to each of these teams. Then, during April and May 2017 there will be Round 3: Final, involving five teams and the creation of prototypes. There will be one winner and one runner-up.

Keith Campbell attended the Airbus Innovation Days 2016 as a guest of the company.