ASD Secretary General Delivers a Keynote Speech at SESAR Showcase Event 2016

The Secretary General of the AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD), Mr. Jan Pie, has today delivered a keynote speech at the SESAR Showcase Event taking place on June 14-16 in The Netherlands. With the first SESAR programme coming to an end, this event is an opportunity to acknowledge the achievements so far as well as to showcase the industry perspectives and expectations for the next SESAR programme.

In his speech, Mr. Pie highlighted the vital role of research and innovation in ensuring the continued success and competitiveness of the European aerospace manufacturing industry and stated that “each year, the European civil aerospace manufacturing industry invests around €7 billion in Research and Development (R&D). European industry players are main partners in flagship EU programmes such as SESAR and CleanSky. SESAR enables European industry to maintain its leadership and increase its share of the global civil aviation marketplace”.

In this regard, Mr. Pie cited that SESAR is a genuine case study for the current Commission’s aviation strategy, delivering good practices in areas such as innovation, effective public-private partnerships and efficient links between academia and industry. A wide range of innovative technologies have been developed through SESAR; all of which will contribute to European industry achieving the goals defined in Flightpath2050. “These collective efforts all contribute towards meeting European and global environmental targets and SESAR is a critical project for the decarbonisation of air transport” commented Mr. Pie. Moreover, Mr. Pie stressed the importance of using EU funding for SESAR deployment to accelerate the deployment of the new advanced SESAR technologies rather than focussing on short-term goals only.

In his concluding remarks, Mr. Pie emphasised that “in order for European industry to continue to be a world class leader in this sector, continued investment in R&D is essential. Both SESAR and CleanSky play complimentary roles and should remain a priority for EU funding in the future as well.”