Airbus Scale seeks new home for unused ideas

What to do with a pretty good idea or technical solution, but you can’t use it yourself for all sorts of reasons? Try to find some other party that is interested to invest in it and sell it on! In a nutshell, that’s one of the ideas behind Airbus Scale, a new innovation unit that the OEM announced last week. Airbus Scale seeks new home for unused ideas.

Innovation is key to the Airbus DNA since the start of the company. Last year, self-financed research & development (R&D) expenses were €2.9 billion, in 2019 even €3.4 billion. But Airbus

also looks at initiatives and ideas outside the company. In 2015, it created Airbus BizLab, which helped to accelerate over ninety start-ups, over seventy internal projects, and seven spinouts from Toulouse, Hamburg, Madrid, and Bangalore. One of the ideas now used in reality is NavBlue, which develops airline operations software.

Other innovations are studied in Silicon Valley at Acubed, which particularly looks at artificial intelligence, autonomous flight as is tested on the A350, data analytics, or digital communications. Another innovation center is the Airbus China Innovation Center (ACIC) in Shenzhen, which has a role in developing robotics and automation in the final assembly of aircraft. ACIC is also deeply involved in connectivity and new sensor and operation technologies that have or may find their way into an Airbus cabin.
Airbus UpNext is studying cryogenic and superconducting technologies as part of the Ascend project, which could have a future in electric or hybrid-electric propulsion systems.