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Aeronautical stakeholders tools for the European research agenda 3

Final Report Summary - ASTERA 3 (Aeronautical stakeholders tools for the European research agenda 3)

The overall objective of ASTERA 3 project was to provide the requisite management support, administrative services and technical support to facilitate the activities of the Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe (ACARE). In ACARE's January 2001 report 'European aeronautics: A vision for 2020', the group of personalities chaired by former Commissioner Philippe Busquin established a number of recommendations for fulfilling the European Aeronautics' ambition to better serve society's needs and strengthen its quest for global leadership. In particular, the group recommended the creation of ACARE to develop and implement a strategic approach to European aeronautics research.

The contractual objectives of ASTERA 3 in the context of the 18-month reporting period were as follows.
- To provide the requisite project management support for the efficient and effective execution of the ASTERA 3 contract. This involves the usual project planning, control and reporting but also technical coordination and support to ACARE and its working groups.
- To complete the monitoring of the implementation (technical and institutional) of the SRA and provide a final report on each aspect.
- To develop a methodology for the periodical assessment of the progress being achieved towards the ACARE goals.
- To develop a new ACARE website.
- To modify the SRA tools for web use and distribution
- To organise and perform the second Out Of The Box workshop.
- To complete a first international collaboration workshop.
- To support ACARE in the development of the strategic thinking towards the preparation for a new Vision and new Strategic Research Agenda.
- To support in the preparation of the addendum to the SRA-2.
- To support ACARE in the development of position papers.
- To support the ACARE working groups.

The communication group developed the communication plan for 2007-08, defining the modes of participation of ACARE in the numerous important aeronautics workshops which have taken place in 2007-08. The group also finalised the development of the public awareness tool which had been initiated and virtually completed in ASTERA-2.

The implementation group largely focused on Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) by supporting the preparation of the content for the collaborative research ultimately and the 'Clean sky' Joint Technology Initiative(JTI).

The project was executed through the work performed under the following work packages (WPs):

WP 110 - Technical implementation
The objectives of WP110 the 'Technical observation platform' (TOP) consisted of providing support to the monitoring of the technical elements of the Strategic Research Agenda (SRA).

The specific objectives of the reporting period consisted in:
1) the collection of national R&T data 2005 and 2006 for National R&T data and the finalisation of the data on the third call of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) from the European Commission;
2) the analysis of the whole data collected;
3) the update and graphics finalisation of the TOP navigator.

WP 210 - Out of the box - phase 2
The overall objective of this study was to stimulate creative thinking and to provide directions for future radically innovative research and the associated research infrastructures as input for possible updates to the SRA and for content of the FP7. Building on the first phase of the out of the box project funded within ASTERA 2, the goal was to carry out a second workshop aimed at translating the conceptual issues of the first workshop into research topics and the need for research infrastructures.

WP 220 - Communication
The objectives of this work package were spread among a number of different activities having the common denominator of being communication-related. These activities can be broadly split in three distinct categories associated to different levels of communication:
1) internal within ACARE;
2) external to the general public;
3) towards the international dimension.

WP 310 - Strategic thinking for SRA support
The general objective was to provide support for the strategic thinking to further the development of the Strategic Research Agenda (SRA). This took the form of position papers on a range of topics. In order to actively contribute to the ongoing debate on the future of air transport, a key part of the process involved the development of common, agreed position papers outlining the official opinion of ACARE with respect to certain issues which may have not been essential when the SRA-1 or SRA-2 were published, but which are becoming of crucial importance for the future.

These activities fall in two broad categories:
- papers produced as part of the background work in support of future editions of the SRA (e.g. the Addendum to the SRA);
- papers prepared under specific request from the Commission, where ACARE is asked to advise on specific topics (e.g. the opinion on the soundness of the technical content of the 'Clean sky' JTI).
The methodology for the development of agreed positions followed a standard ACARE process, consisting in the creation of ad hoc groups populated with representatives of all the relevant communities, on a voluntary basis. A chairman and rapporteur were appointed. The ASTERA 3 team provided the required administrative and logistics support for the management of meetings, drafting working documents, etc.

WP 120 - Institutional implementation
Main objective of this work package was the monitoring of the SRA institutional elements (the so-called institutional enablers) implementation, both at European and at local national / regional level.

In particular, the aim was achieved through a dedicated mechanism, the IOP (Institutional Observation Platform), developed in ASTERA 2, providing to the ATS community, a support instrument granting a constant monitoring and assessment of useful information on the institutional issues, related to aeronautics and worthy to be sustained with specific policies by the stakeholders, mainly the institutional actors (MS, EU agencies, EC), in order to ensure the SRA goals achievement and a sustainable growth of the ATS.

Finally, a set of recommendations was issued for each monitored / evaluated action in order to provide to the stakeholders useful hints and guidelines for further development and implementation of the SRA Institutional Enablers within their policies, in order to grant the right level of maturity of the institutional actions for supporting the strategic ATS roadmap and achieving the vision objectives.

The specific objectives consisted in:
1) the completion of collection of info data on the certification, supply chain and trans-European synergy in particular oriented to safety, airport infrastructure (versus capacity) and innovation in Europe;
2) an analysis and assessment of the current status based on collected data (detailed for certification oriented to safety, more general for airport infrastructures and innovation, because of the WAG supplementary activities, performed during June and July);
3) development of a set of major recommendations to be taken into account for further progress on the implementation of the above-mentioned institutional issues (detailed for certification oriented to safety, more general for airport infrastructures and innovation, because of the WAG supplementary support activities, performed during June and July).