Overwhelming participation in 'Fly Your Ideas' Airbus competition

The competition challenged student teams worldwide to come up with innovative ideas to shape the future of aviation and to develop eco-efficient ideas to bring further enhancements to our industry.

The competition has seen an overwhelming response with over 2350 students registering to take part, and 225 teams from 130 universities completing round 1 of the competition. The geographical diversity of the entrants is remarkable, with students from 82 countries worldwide taking part including established as well as emerging markets. In terms of the number of teams participating per country, the top 10 includes China, Singapore, UK, India, France, Italy, Germany, US, Canada and Hong Kong. From the MENA region UAE and Egypt made it to round two.

Round 1 of the competition is now closed and 86 team proposals have been selected to go through to Round 2, by Airbus experts in various fields such as R&T, environment, engineering or marketing.

The proposals look at a wide range of topics including new materials, products and/or processes as well as aircraft performance, design, manufacturing and organisational and operational performance. Details about the successful teams and their proposals will be posted on line on the 'Fly Your Ideas' website after Round 2 begins on 1st January 2009.

The next stage will involve Airbus employees working with the selected teams to further develop their proposals.

"We are delighted with the response that we have received from the supporting universities and all the participating students. This confirms that, wherever you are in the world, the innovation that is at the heart of our industry can inspire the best in creative thinking,"

says Habib Fekih, President of Airbus Middle East.

The competition was opened to college and university students from around the world, studying a degree, Masters or PhD in any academic discipline, from engineering to marketing, business to science and philosophy to design.

The teams will advance through different competitive and challenging rounds, concluding with a live final at the Paris Air Show Le Bourget in June 2009. A top prize of €30,000 will be offered to the team whose idea demonstrates the greatest potential for eco-efficiency improvement.