The European Technology Development Cluster (E-TDC) is born, the innovative European collaboration model between Avio Aero, European affiliates of GE Aviation, R&D centers, universities and SMEs cooperating on common sustainable innovation projects. Twenty-five institutions, including the Polytechnics of Turin, Milan and Bari, the Federico II of Naples and prestigious universities based in Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany, will work jointly on the research and development of technologies enabling sustainable aeronautical propulsion.
The E-TDC represents the extension of the Technology Development Communities (TDC), inaugurated in 2016 in the presence of the then Minister of Education, University and Research Stefania Giannini, who sponsored the announcement. The TDCs connected Avio Aero to a pool made up of seven of the best Italian universities and polytechnics and promoted the concept of networking rather than One-to-One. Avio Aero involved the various institutions in thematic tables in which their respective skills were valued in pursuit of a common goal. In the following years, a work of consolidation of the network and its focus on multiple disciplines, products and processes, attracted and brought together new players on crucial issues, laying the foundations for the continental expansion agreement, which was formalized just recently.
"The key technologies that will characterize the next generations of aeronautical products range from electrification or hybridization, to the development of new ultra-efficient engine architectures, up to the use of bio-fuels or alternative sources with zero emissions, such as hydrogen - declares Enrico Casale, EU Programs & Research Network Leader of Avio Aero. Highly complex themes that need expert and heterogeneous minds, as much as talents. On young minds we base our research towards the future. "
Avio Aero, together with the European teams of GE Aviation, is preparing to face the ambitious challenges that will characterize the aviation of tomorrow, continuing to invest in innovation and preparing to play a central role in Clean Aviation, the future institutional partnership of the Horizon Europe program. The support of the research network and the scientific communities, consolidating the collaborative approach that has always characterized the company in innovation, will be essential to achieve the goal of climate neutrality.
