Project description
Enhancing regional excellence in the aerospace sector
The aerospace sector plays a crucial role in the European economy, with a strong emphasis on innovative research and technology. The EU-funded AD-ASTRA project aims to develop a connected interregional innovation ecosystem between five regions in four European countries that are actively fostering innovation in the aerospace sector. These regions are Occitania (France), South Holland (the Netherlands), Madrid (Spain), Apulia (Italy) and Emilia-Romagna (Italy). The establishment of a solid and long-lasting collaborative EU network able to exploit complementary skills and academic and industrial experience will help create a critical mass in such a strategic sector for the EU.
Objective
AD-ASTRA (Aerospace Districts: Acceleration of the Strategic Transfer of Regional Advancements) is a project about the positive interconnection among innovation ecosystems, with a focus on aerospace sectors.
The proposal aims at the development of a connected, competitive, interregional innovation ecosystem between 5 EU regions (Toulouse, South Holland, Madrid, Apulia, Emilia-Romagna) with: a shared interest in fostering aerospace sectors, enhancing the cross-contamination to and from other innovative sectors (e.g. automotive, biomedical, agri-food, big data); different innovation readiness levels; aerospace districts with different levels of maturity and consolidation.
“Diversity generates wealth”: the collaboration of these markedly diverse regions, furthermore represented by partners from different spheres of the quadruple-helix, will be a growth opportunity. The establishment of a solid and long-lasting collaborative EU network, able to exploit complementary skills, experiences, territorial and industrial vocations, will contribute to create a “critical mass” in EU strategic sectors such as innovation and aerospace, where global competition leads to a confrontation with actors of increasing size and requires innovative models and approaches.
This ambitious goal will be achieved through an iterative process: starting from the collection, analysis and systematization of the experiences (competencies, technologies, networks) of the partner regions with reference to their aerospace districts; analyzing the future evolutions of the ecosystems, in response to technological, economic, political, and social megatrends; correcting or validating hypotheses and evolution models with the support of stakeholder groups; defining an action plan for the development of each of the regional aerospace ecosystems, valuing experiences and good practices stemming from other regions and strengthening spin-in and spin-out processes to and from other industrial sector and territories.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-AG-LS - HORIZON Lump Sum GrantCoordinator
40129 Bologna Bo
Italy