Preparations for the establishment of the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking reached a new milestone on 23 February with the adoption by the European Commission of a regulatory proposal for setting up 10 new European Partnerships between the European Union, Member States and/or the industry. The Single Basic Act, establishing the future SESAR 3 JU as well as the other partnerships, is expected to be adopted later in the year by the Council of the European Union, following consultation with the European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee. The partnerships are seen as catalysts for speeding up the transition towards a green, climate neutral and digital Europe, and to make European industry more resilient and competitive.
The SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking will build on the success and the momentum generated by the SESAR Joint Undertaking to deliver the Digital European Sky, making air transport smarter, more sustainable, connected and accessible to all airspace users, including new entrants. Once established, the partnership will implement research and innovation roadmaps to achieve the Digital European Sky, matching the ambitions of the ‘European Green Deal’ and the ‘Europe fit for the digital age’ initiative. These priorities outlined in the recently-published Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) to build a digitalised infrastructure will also be critical for a post-COVID recovery, enabling aviation to become more scalable, economically sustainable, environmentally efficient and predictable.
Adina Vălean, Commissioner for Transport, said: “EU partnerships will have a central role to drive the twin green and digital transition for the mobility and transport sector. To make our ambitions come true, we need to develop disruptive technologies bringing zero-emission vessels and aircraft to the market, we need to develop and deploy cooperative, connected and automated mobility, and we need to enable a more efficient and modern traffic management.”