Europe's Clean Sky Initiative Launches €25M Call for Proposals
June 16, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS
Europe's Clean Sky initiative launched a €25 million call for proposals for aeronautical R&D on June 16, bringing a new generation of greener, quieter and more efficient aircraft a step closer to implementation.
Clean Sky is a unique, collaborative, private-public partnership covering the European Union (EU). The call is the first in what will be one of Europe's biggest ever research projects, with €1.6 billion to be invested up to 2014.
Through the Clean Sky initiative, the European Commission (EC) and the EU air transport industry have joined forces to resolutely address the challenges of air pollution, noise and climate change.
Clean Sky's objective is to demonstrate and validate the technology breakthroughs needed to reach Europe's key environmental goals for air transport for 2020:
"The new step taken today highlights the joint commitment of the European Commission and the European air transport industry to develop breakthrough technologies to significantly reduce the impact of the air transport on the environment and strengthen the competitiveness of this vital sector for Europe's economy," said Janez Potočnik, EC research commissioner.
Clean Sky's first call for proposals covers 72 individual research topics in five major areas, with the key objective of enlisting technical capabilities of additional partners. The five areas are:
- Green regional aircraft.
- Green rotorcraft.
- Sustainable and green engines.
- SMART fixed wing air.
- Systems for green operations.
Background
Clean Sky is one of Europe's largest research programs, with a budget of €1.6 billion. It represents a joint commitment from the EU and aeronautics industry to make air travel more sustainable, by encouraging the aeronautics manufacturers to develop and produce greener products.
Current membership in Clean Sky includes 120 organizations from 16 countries and 86 industries, including 20 small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), 15 research centers and 17 universities.
For additional information, see EU Research News Alert on Greening Air Transport, the Clean Sky web site and the EU Transport Research web site.
Source: European Commission (EC).