“Engage”, the SESAR knowledge transfer network, is now up and running. Managed by a consortium of academia and ATM industry partners, including EUROCONTROL and EASA, the network aims to promote and facilitate the development of air traffic management (ATM) research in Europe. The consortium will organise multiple activities over the next four years in support of, and in close coordination with, the SESAR Joint Undertaking.
The network’s focus is two-fold: inspiring new researchers and helping to facilitate the transfer of results from fundamental and applied research into industrial research. It aims to ensure that promising research is progressed, and higher maturity results are delivered, through a wide range of activities and financial support actions, thus supporting a more effective innovation pipeline in the context of the SESAR 2020 programme.
To promote knowledge transfer, the network will set up a knowledge hub, a single European point of entry for ATM knowledge. With enhanced search functionalities, researchers may turn to the hub as an accessible source of data, and as a means to contact other researchers to combine disciplines and share ideas.
The network will support and facilitate the development of a future skilled workforce that is able to keep innovating and improving the ATM system. This will be achieved, in part, by funding a number of innovative PhDs, in an effort to develop new talent with a deep knowledge of future ATM scientific research needs. Excellence in education and training is a pre-requisite for attracting top-level talent to the sector. In so doing, the network will provide the foundations for the creation of the SESAR aviation academy.
The network will also support various thematic challenges: new ideas suggested by the research community, not already included within the scope of an existing SESAR project. Each challenge will have one or more thematic workshop(s) and dedicated session(s) as part of the SESAR Innovation Days. To further promote cooperation between industry and academia, catalyst funding will be awarded to groups (combining industry and academic expertise) to conduct specific ‘gap-filling’ activities, aligned with the thematic challenges. This is aimed at bringing research ideas closer to industry goals and objectives, and to higher TRLs. There is still time to suggest a thematic challenge: please go to the “Participate” page of the website (see link below) and complete the simple form by 09 March.
The network is coordinated by the following partners: University of Westminster, EUROCONTROL, European Aviation Safety Agency, Frequentis, Innaxis, Technical University Delft, University of Belgrade - Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering, University of Trieste.
