A*STAR and Airbus to collaborate on aviation research

Airbus has become the newest member of the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and research (A*STAR) aerospace program, it was announced at the Aerospace Technology Leadership Forum in downtown Singapore on Monday. Airbus joins various other OEMs as members–such as Boeing, Embraer and Bombardier, GE, P&W, Rolls-Royce, Safran and Honeywell–and major aviation Singapore companies-such as ST Aerospace and SIA Engineering.

The MoU agreed by Airbus will in particular focus on drawing on A*STAR’s capabilities in data analytics, which the company said “can be used for a wide array of applications including more accurate prediction of flight arrival times to reduce passenger delays. Lim Chuan Poh, chairman of A*STAR, said “Through this agreement, Airbus will be able to harness R&D capabilities and expertise across the science and engineering research institutes … this partnership is reflective of how the public and private sectors are synergistically working together under an open innovation framework to position Singapore as an aviation innovation hub to better serve the growing Asian market and beyond.”

A*STAR was launched in 2007 to encourage collaboration in pre-competitive research work. The organization said, “The AP fosters synergy through leveraging the broad and complex range of interests of its members for a sustainable future,” allowing them to “draw on capabilities across A*STAR to meet key requirements for solutions in MRO and manufacturing.

To date more than 50 projects have been commissioned, with the program having five key research “thrusts”: advanced materials; manufacturing processes and automation; information and communication; inspection and non-destructive testing; and computational modeling and dynamics.

“Singapore is already an important research partner for Airbus,” said Axel Klein, Airbus senior v-p research & technology. “This is a further step towards growing Airbus R&T footprint globally and in the fast-growing Asian region.”