11 new research and innovation projects representing $34 million invested to accelerate transitions towards resilient and sustainable mobility

MONTREAL, Sept. 1, 2022 /CNW Telbec/ - The Quebec aerospace ecosystem is responding with bold determination to the call for proposals issued by the Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Quebec (CRIAQ), to address both the challenges of today and tomorrow. No less than 11 projects have been approved and funded in pre-competitive collaborative research and large-scale technological demonstrations, just four months after CRIAQ launched its call for projects on April 29. 

These 11 projects will be carried out by 11 new collaborative innovation partnerships involving a total of 19 companies and 12 public and academic research centres and 5 international companies. These experts are pooling their expertise and know-how to create innovative solutions that aim to reduce environmental impacts with new engines and composite equipment, incorporating artificial intelligence into integrated digital aviation systems, as well as designing and experimenting with new types of vertical landing aircraft to redefine the air mobility of the future.

R&D projects pooling expertise to create solutions aiming to reduce impact and redefine air mobility of the future

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"Faced with the challenges of today and tomorrow, we need to support interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral cooperation as never before to accelerate society's need-based developments for new and more environmentally friendly air mobility products and services and to ensure their acceptance by authorities and communities.  

This is our purpose: to bring ideas together, stimulate them, sometimes confront them with the aim of creating innovation through new approaches to ideation, technology demonstrations and product certification, to facilitate their safe and timely integration into the market," - Alain Aubertin, President, and CEO of CRIAQ.

These 11 projects were selected through a rigorous process of proposal submission, analysed by a scientific committee of experts, and then submitted to the Ministere de l'Economie et de l'Innovation du Quebec (MEI) for final approval, with funding totalling $13.5 million. The total public and private funding of more than $34 million invested in these projects comes in part from funds granted by the MEI as part of the Strategie quebecoise de l'aerospatiale (SQA) Horizon 2026, from budget envelopes, the private sector, Mitacs and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

The following 11 research and development projects: 

AHEAD:	Electric hydrogen architecture for the aviation of tomorrow
SALAD:	Autonomous system for aerial deliveries by drones
AMAF:	Autonomy structure of new air mobility of the future
CAVICA:	Icing expertise, research, testing and certification
TextO:	Development of a controlled opening textile to promote the integration of functions in aeronautical composites
DIGITWIN:	Development of digital twins for two flight regimes
BioFlies:	Infusion of aircraft interior parts in bio-based composites
ACTec:	Development of advanced compressor technologies
DEEPS:	Research and development of an electric propulsion system, including a reliable propeller, thrust mount and an AI model to analyse performance data, for heavy cargo drones or small UAMs.
OCTA:	Development of a thermal correlation tool for aerospace
SEASAT:	Preparation and setting up of a partnership to develop a supervision tool for factory assembly environments and satellite integration rooms.

Brief descriptions of the projects are available on the CRIAQ website here. For more information, please contact the person below.

The purpose of CRIAQ's Horizon 2026 calls for projects, which are open to all, is to enable the development and rapid adoption of technologies so that Quebec's aerospace industry can take full advantage of the recovery in global demand for new aerospace products. A second call for projects is underway. Details can be found on the website.

To learn more about the trajectories needed to achieve sustainable aerospace, resilient future air mobility and integrated, safe and efficient digital aviation systems, we invite you to consult CRIAQ's Roadmap 2035. 

This CRIAQ initiative aims to create new and essential partnerships with governments, cities and territories, industry, and the academic and research communities, to launch research programs and calls for projects as well as structuring initiatives that will enable the ecosystem to achieve carbon neutrality objectives together.

About CRIAQ 

The Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Quebec (CRIAQ) is a unique model of collaborative aerospace research conducted by companies of all sizes involving universities and research centres.  Its mission is to increase the competitiveness of the aerospace industry by stimulating business innovation through collaborative R&D. Its role is to bring together ecosystems and develop a new generation of innovators to strengthen Quebec's technological leadership in cutting-edge aerospace applications: digital aviation, future air mobility and sustainable aerospace.

More than 200 projects have been completed and are underway, with a value of more than $270 million, involving more than 1,900 scientific researchers and academic members and 1,700 students over the 20 years of CRIAQ's existence.

SOURCE Consortium de recherche et d'innovation en aérospatiale au Québec (CRIAQ)

Genevieve Dion, Director of communications, [email protected], Tel. [phone]