What’s new at Abu Dhabi’s Global Aerospace Summit?

RITIKA SHARMA / Emirates Business

Cross-border partnerships, workforce localisation, inclusion of women in aerospace and future of unmanned aircraft systems — are a few topics to be discussed at the Global Aerospace Summit, which are bound to make it a unique experience.
The much-awaited biennial aviation event to be held at ADNEC in Abu Dhabi is expected to put an exceptional show this year with events centered on the theme of innovation. The choice of theme for this year’s event brings with it certain unconventional but vital topics to table — which need the attention of the industry players in order to maintain its position as one of the biggest revenue generating industries of UAE. Innovation will be the hallmark of aviation’s future with technology as its growth engine, according to Chafik Hilal, Managing Director Middle East, Rockwell Collins and a member of the Summit’s advisory board.
An exclusive, invitation-only event, the Summit will facilitate global debate and strategic discussion on key challenges facing the aerospace, aviation, space and defence industries.
HE Saif Al Hajeri, CEO, Tawazun reportedly said, “In today’s fast-paced, technologically centric economy, innovation needs to be considered as the engine that powers performance. To achieve sustainable development, we need to consider certain fundamental prerequisites such as promoting a culture of excellence and developing human capabilities.
“The 2016 Global Aerospace Summit will be a definitive forum where industry leaders and decision-makers come together to highlight what we need to achieve in order to drive industrial innovation and boost economic development across main sectors shaping today’s world.”
A summary of the interesting topics:

Partnerships across the borders: The role of cross-border partnerships in the global aviation, aerospace, defence and space sectors will come under the spotlight at this event when international leaders from across the industries meet at the Global Aerospace Summit to explore and identify future development strategies.
Partnership patterns and projects will be examined in two key sessions – one sponsored by Dassault Aviation, which will examine how innovative offset programmes can support local economic development while achieving business goals, and a second, sponsored by the Cytec Solvay Group, which will help define how to create successful partnerships with GCC players.

Robotics in aviation: Industry leaders say robotics have become the need of the hour to tackle huge aircraft order books, recently estimated by the Financial Times at close to 12,000 planes between Boeing and Airbus alone, which translates to between eight and 10 years’ production time.
Nick Webb, Managing Partner of Streamline Marketing Group (SMG), which organises the biennial Summit said, “The Summit will examine whether the industry is investing in the right technology, which R&D areas the industry could be investing in and how the current market changes are reshaping the industry. Panelists will also debate the knock-on effects of automation on workforces, the effectiveness and commercial viability of additive manufacturing technology and whether CAA 3D parts qualification and certification can be simplified.”

Facilitating the smart travel era: As connectivity and digital solutions disrupt and reinvent the commercial aviation landscape, analysts are predicting they will transform the entire industry and passenger travel experience in as little as five years.
The shape of the aerospace and defence industry to come will be the focus of a key Summit strategy session – “Soaring Into The Next 100 Years: Leveraging Digital Technologies to Achieve Operational Excellence.”

Unmanned Aircrafts: International aerospace experts will convene in Abu Dhabi at the third Global Aerospace Summit to discuss the rapidly changing role of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), popularly known as drones.
UAS are widely recognised by the industry as systems that can be programmed to automatically carry out specific operational missions, with a certain level of self-governance, under the control and guidance of a human-operator at mission level.
They are often seen as the next major step in the fusion of computing technologies, sensors, software, and mechanical systems.

Customising human resource: The major human capital development challenges, including workforce localization and inclusion of more women in the industry, will remain key topics at the summit. In a special strategy session, facilitated by Ahmed Al Safared, CEO of Etihad AIS, the Emiratisation consulting and training company, industry leaders will examine a range of burning issues, including how the sectors can compete for highly skilled workers, particularly
engineers.
H.E Dr. Mohammed Al Ahbabi, Director General of the UAE Space Agency, a key speaker at the Summit, plans to use the space industry as
an example of a sector facing workforce challenges and one that is constantly looking for the next wave of industry pioneers.