UNESCO, Air France and Stanford University representatives to join Airbus executives in selecting the Fly Your Ideas 2013 winners

The leading aircraft manufacturer Airbus has today unveiled a high calibre international panel to judge the final of the 2013 Fly Your Ideas student challenge. The six member jury is lead by Charles Champion, Airbus Executive Vice President Engineering. The jury will be looking for the most innovative idea for a more sustainable aviation industry from among five finalist student teams.

Charles will sit alongside colleagues Ardhendu Pathak, responsible for developing disruptive technologies as Head of Airbus Innovation Cell in India, and Nicolas Tschechne, Trend Research & Market Intelligence Specialist at the Airbus Cabin Innovation & Design Centre in Hamburg. UNESCO has given its patronage to the global competition and is represented by Lidia Brito, UNESCO Director of Science Policy and Capacity Building on the panel. Bruno Delile, Senior Vice President New Aircraft and Corporate Fleet Planning for the Air France Group and Charbel Farhat, the Vivian Church Hoff Professor of Aircraft Structures and Chairman of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University, recently elected to the US National Academy of Engineering, complete the line up.

The jury will convene at Airbus’ headquarters in Toulouse on 12th June where the teams will present their projects for a chance to win the top prize of €30,000 and runner up prize of €15,000. The results will be announced at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters on 14th June. The 2013 competition inspired over 6,000 students from 82 countries to register with 618 teams submitting a proposal. Having made it through two rigorous rounds of evaluation by 60 Airbus assessors, the five finalist teams now face their toughest challenge yet.

“I am thrilled to welcome this prestigious jury to Toulouse for what promises to be an exciting final,” said Charles Champion. “With Fly Your Ideas we want to inspire the next generation of innovators to push their skills to the limits and accelerate the search for sustainable solutions for the future. The presence of such internationally acclaimed experts is testament to the importance of what we aim to achieve.”

“UNESCO’s patronage of Fly Your Ideas reflects the urgent, growing need to attract and nurture future talent,” said Lidia Brito. “Finding sustainable solutions depends on our capacity to work together and innovate, and Fly Your Ideas gives young people the opportunity to do just this.”

Over 200 Airbus employees are involved in Fly Your Ideas as assessors, experts and mentors for the teams, enabling the students to develop key skills such as team work and project management. This interaction with Airbus staff also gives students valuable insight into the global aviation industry which currently supports 33 million jobs worldwide and is a substantial contributor to global commerce.

Airbus press release