Encouraging new ideas and fresh thinking is critical for innovation in aviation in order to respond to the growing demand for air travel and the increasing number of air vehicles, such as drones, taking to the skies. That is why at the SESAR Joint Undertaking we support long-term research and have created an innovation pipeline in our research programme that transforms innovative ideas into solutions to increase the performance of air traffic management (ATM). Harnessing innovation to tackle the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead is also very much in line with the vision set out in FlightPath 2050, the 2015 Aviation Strategy and the European ATM Master Plan.
It is also the philosophy behind the SESAR Innovation Days, Europe’s largest ATM research-focused event – which gathers the world of academia and industry to discuss breakthrough research findings and opportunities. This publication provides an overview of the papers that were presented during the 2017 edition of the event, clearly providing new ideas on a wide range of topics related to air traffic management modernisation.