São Paulo – Emirates airline announced this Wednesday (25) its plans to build an experimental international laboratory focused on aviation. The initiative, called Aviation X-Lab, will be carried out with a consortium of partners and will be at Area 2071, a dedicated space to Dubai futuristic technology companies and startups in the UAE.
According to information released by Emirates, the lab will host airlines, manufacturers, logistics companies, regulatory agencies, engineers, academics and startups from the sector to come up with new models for the sector and search for solutions that a single organization wouldn’t be able to develop alone.
Emirates will hold a selection process among its staff, independent engineering groups, academics and startups interested in participating in the lab. The process will start with a meeting this year to identify the challenges within the sector and will follow with a year’s work with executives and industry regulators for suggestions of new technologies and businesses, testing of ideas and development of prototypes.
The finalist teams will take part in an event in April of next year in Dubai for the presentation of the developed concepts. The winners will move to the UAE for a joint work with the world’s main academic and innovation institutions. The idea of Area 2071, where the lab will be located, was launched in May and is part of an UAE government plan to encourage the creation of technology, aiming at the year of 2071 and future generations.
“We look forward to the Aviation X-Lab initiative, which will enable Emirates to co-create high impact solutions with our industry partners that will propel the UAE’s aviation sector to new heights, and unlock the possibilities of an interconnected world,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and chief executive officer of Emirates airline and group in a statement.
Registrations to take part in Aviation X-Lab begin in November and those interested can get more information and register at www.area2071.ae.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani