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.
Active as a journalist since 1987, with a background in newspapers, magazines, and a regional news station, Richard has been covering commercial aviation on a freelance basis since late 2016.
Richard is contributing to AirInsight since December 2018. He also writes for Airliner World, Aviation News, Piloot & Vliegtuig, and Luchtvaartnieuws Magazine. Twitter: @rschuur_aero.
