The competition is dominated by teams registered in India (17 teams), UK (10), USA (8), France (7), as well as China and Hong Kong (6) and Australia (5). The 100 teams comprise of 413 students representing 48different nationalities. Thanks to a strong drive from Airbus to encourage more diversity, 71% of teams are made up of a mix of students from different countries, studying different subjects, or male and female, all of which Airbus sees as essential ingredients for innovation.
“I am impressed by the diversity of the teams that have made it through to Round Two this year,” said Charles Champion, Airbus Executive Vice President Engineering. “It is very telling of a generation who no longer thinks in silos but instead aspires to collaborate across traditional boundaries such as gender, nationality and discipline. This reflects Airbus’ ambition to work with greater agility across the company, and I hear our Airbus mentors and experts are very excited about the fresh way of thinking they are getting during these100 days before the next round.” He adds: “Now the race has started – best of luck to all!”
Each of the teams has been attributed an Airbus mentor and an Airbus expert to help take their ideas further and share their insights of real-life aviation constraints over a 100 day period. Just the top five teams will make it to the final and present their ideas at a live event at Airbus facilities in May 2015. The winning team will receive a €30,000 prize, the runner up team €15,000.
What sets Fly Your Ideas apart from other global student competitions is the deep and company-wide engagement of the Airbus teams. The mentors and experts are drawn from right across the business, and include non-technical professionals as well as engineers and aviation experts.
Find out more and follow the activity of each team at their dedicated pages on www.airbus-fyi.com
Note to editors
Airbus Fly Your Ideas is a biennial global competition, organized in partnership with UNESCO, which challenges students to innovate for the future of aviation. Taking part is a unique opportunity for students to put their classroom learning and research to the test, by working with a team of Airbus professionals on the real-world challenges facing the aviation industry. It offers students a chance to apply their creativity in an exceptional learning environment that will equip them in a highly competitive job market. Students can chose from 6 subjects: Efficiency, Passenger Experience, Energy, Affordable Growth, Traffic Growth, Community Friendliness
Key figures Fly Your Ideas 2015:
A total of 518 multi-disciplinary teams representing 2,146 students from 90 countries submitted projects by December 2014
100 teams selected for Round Two, representing 413 students of 48 nationalities
45% of the teams are based in Asia-Pacific, 35% in Europe, 15% in Americas
71% of teams are made of a mix of students from different nationalities, genders, and/or studying different subjects
About half of all the teams involve female students
Timeline
Round 1 (completed): From 01 September to 01 December 2014 – open to all students worldwide.
Each team must be multi-disciplinary and suggest a new idea to tackle one of the challenges facing aviation.
Round 2: 05 January to 30 March 2015 – only the best 100 teams left.
Each team is attributed an Airbus mentor and expert to help them develop their ideas further.
Round 3: Starting April 2015 – with the 5 finalist teams
The finalists spend one week in Airbus facilities to fine-tune their ideas and presentation skills.
Final: May 2015