ICARe aims at extending and deepening international cooperation in the domain of Research and Innovation for aviation.
ICARe CSA is expected to substantially effect on both International and European level with regards to providing the foundations for improved research and development in the aeronautics sector, paving the way towards future multilateral cooperation, focusing in particular on global challenges (e.g. safety, security, emissions reduction, resources efficiency).
This strategic insight on European Aviation contributes to design a holistic international cooperation strategy for Europe in the field of civil Aviation Research and Innovation, based on a global analysis of 21 countries (and not on a case by case approach), to support the Horizon 2020 work programme and beyond, including the future evolutions of CleanSky and SESAR.
Moreover, setting up chosen international cooperation projects will also lead to the more efficient use of European funding (public and private).
With these fundamental principles in mind, ICARe will generate 3 main impacts referring to ACARE’s 5 high - level goals:
a) Strengthen Europe’s smart specialization in key strategic fields of aviation research,
b) Improve the competitiveness and sustainability of Europe’s aviation industrial fabric,
c) Contribute to spread Europe’s views.
a) Smart specialization
The global envelope of the tasks undertaken in the frame of ICARe will lead to the setup of cooperation with international counterparts (academia, industry, operators, regulatory bodies) chosen by the European stakeholders with a thoughtful set of criteria. These criteria are those that govern the choice of partners when it comes to open innovation: excellence of the scientific and technological background, the complementarity of the partner’s technologies with the ones mastered in Europe, the position of the partners on the value chains complemented by real willingness to cooperate on a win-win basis.
ICARe will also draft cooperation patterns that foster the more efficient use of the available research capabilities in Europe thanks to the creation of transnational cooperation mechanisms in the aviation research.
This impact refers to ACAREs goals #2 (Maintaining and extending industrial leadership) and #5 (Prioritizing research, testing capabilities & education).
b) Competitiveness and sustainability
ACARE’s SRIA, derived from the Flightpath 2050 Vision, is the strategic framework in which ICARe enshrines itself. This strategy aims at making the global air transport sector both more competitive (“maintaining global leadership”) and sustainable (“serving society’s needs” and “protecting the environment and the energy supply”).
Cooperation patterns designed and set up in the frame of ICARe will mobilize high-level resources from associated and third countries. Thus they will leverage European efforts towards this strategy, allowing the mastering of the key technologies and their scientific base with optimized European resources. International cooperation will indeed enable sharing the costs and risks with other countries and initiate technology and knowledge transfer to European players. Consistently with the smart specialization mentioned above, cooperation fosters the reinforcement of competitiveness.
This impact refers to ACAREs goals #1 (Meeting societal & market needs), #2 (Maintaining and extending industrial leadership and #3 Protecting the environment and the energy supply).
c) Europe’s views
Due to the open platforms set up in the frame of ICARe, people and organizations from European Union, associated and third countries will learn to know each other; personal contacts will be established, and confidence will be built day after day and project after project. Experience has shown that these links are retained far beyond the initial projects, leading Europe in the proper position in regards to spreading methods and tools to the partners. In fact, when the R&I cooperation is successful, several key factors are gathered to extend the collaboration progressively towards business: industrialization, sales, mergers and acquisitions. These considerations also apply in the field of regulations, standards and norms, greening of the aviation, etc.
Thus, ICARe will contribute to pave the way for a comprehensive European “economic diplomacy” in the Aviation sector. This impact refers to ACAREs goals #3 (Protecting the environment and the energy supply) and #4 (Ensuring safety and security) which are global challenges that cannot be tackled by one single country.
On top of these 3 key impacts, ICARe is a promising tool to foster greater cooperation between European Union, associated and third countries in the domain of Research and Innovation for civil Aviation, contributing to the achievement of the ACARE SRIA goals for accelerating the progress towards FlightPath 2050.