February 24th, 2016

Hosted by MEP Dr. Dieter-Lebrecht Koch, the EASN Association organised on Tuesday, February 16th 2016 a Parliamentary Breakfast in the premises of the European Parliament. Under the title "Taking off to the future of European Aviation; is aviation science still on board?" several Members of the European Parliament (MEP) as well as numerous participants from the aviation community were present to be informed and to discuss on highly relevant topics, such as:

• Academic research for seamless and affordable air transport in Europe

• Intermodality as innovation driver

• Innovation and breakthrough technologies in aviation as an indispensable condition to ensure competitiveness and global leadership of the European Aviation

• Open dissemination of knowledge and breakthrough technologies to ensure trans-sectorial exploitation of innovation

• How to achieve an integrated European aviation education system

The Parliamentary Breakfast was directly followed by a workshop on "Academic aviation research in the light of the new realities; are we actually performing the research we need?" organized by EASN and hosted by the European Commission, DG Research and Innovation. The workshop followed up the discussion opened at the Parliamentary Breakfast, but deepened and extended to analyse technical, educational and financial challenges more in detail and to work on practical solutions.

The debate was conducted in a very constructive atmosphere with important contributions from renowned personalities in the European Aviation community. The challenge of maintaining aviation science on-board was presented and, in view of the increasing international competition and the new realities of the 21st century, the indispensible role of Universities in the research and innovation chain was emphasised. It was the common view that this role is a prerequisite for maintaining global leadership of Europe in Aviation.

Resulting from the fruitful discussions of both, the Parliamentary Breakfast and the Workshop, EASN was encouraged and committed to initialise a process among the related stakeholders, of formulating a specific concept and roadmap on how to better integrate innovative and upstream research activities in the current EU schemes.

View presentations below.

Parliamentary Breakfast
Speakers
1. Dr. Dietrich Knorzer, European Commission, DG Research & Innovation, RTD-H.3 - Aviation
2. Prof. Spiros Pantelakis, Chairman of EASN, University of Patras: View his positioning here.

EASN Open Workshop
Presentations
What is the importance of fundamental research to aerospace Industry in the 21st Century?
Prof. Dieter Schmitt, Aeronautical Consultant, EASN honorary member
View presentation

Academic research: industrial subcontractor or independent innovation driver.
Dr. Helge Pfeiffer, General Secretary EASN, KU Leuven (University of Leuven)
View presentation

Do the European Universities have the right tools to promote innovative research?
Prof. Dr.-Ing Joachim Szodruch, Board Member German Aerospace Centre (ret.)

What about basic research opportunities within the industry?
Mr. Eric Dautriat, Executive Director of Clean Sky Joint Undertaking
View presentation

Does the European education system have the appropriate mechanisms to foster and promote innovative thinking?
Prof.dr.ir. Leo Veldhuis, TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)
View presentation