Airbus seeks ideas among innovators

TIANJIN - Airbus has just launched its 2018 Fly Your Ideas global competition for the China region, encouraging young Chinese innovators to come up with unique ideas and solutions for the aerospace industry.

The contest was launched on Sept 14 at the Civil Aviation University of China in North China's Tianjin municipality, also the home of one of the assembly lines of the A320 aircraft family.

"Airbus is seeking innovative ideas and digital solutions that could change aerospace in the decades to come and create a safer, cleaner and better-connected world," said George Xu, CEO of Airbus China.

"China is not only a big market for Airbus but also a great innovative power that Airbus must appreciate and embrace. We have confidence in China's innovation power, especially among the younger generation," said Xu, in front of more than 700 students and aviation professionals at CAUC, one of China's major education bases for aerospace professionals.

Fly Your Ideas is a global competition for university students from all over the world to innovate for the future of the aerospace industry.

Since its launch in 2008, more than 20,000 students from around 650 universities in over 100 countries have participated in the event.

The focus of the 2018-2019 edition is digitalization. Global participants can propose their ideas and solutions to meet the challenges in electrification, data services, cyber security, the internet of things, artificial intelligence and augmented reality.

Six teams worldwide will compete to share a prize fund of 45,000 euros ($52,565) and the chance to take their idea forward within the industry.

Chinese students have participated in this competition with outstanding results.

In 2011, "Wing of Phoenix" from Nanjing Aeronautics and Astronautics University won the top prize, and "DAELead" from the University of Hong Kong was the global champion in 2017 with their innovative idea of "Private Stowage Compartment".