Round One of Airbus’ global competition Fly Your Ideas has attracted worldwide entries on how the next generation will tackle the future challenges of aviation. Over 50 Airbus experts and innovators are now reviewing the more than 500 ideas submitted. Their mission is to select the 100 teams who merit a place in Round Two of the competition.

Ian Lane, Airbus Senior Expert and Fly Your Ideas assessor commented: “We passionately debate and review each idea. It is an absolute privilege and inspiration to see such imaginative, unrestrained thinking from the student teams.” He adds: “As aviation professionals, we have insight into which developments are already in the pipeline, so the idea has to be genuinely new. It could be something very simple, used in a new context or combined with an element in a way we haven’t seen before.”

Whether selected for the next round or not, Airbus will give feedback to every team on their submission, thus nurturing the spirit of innovation in the next generation.

The 100 selected teams will be announced in January 2015. Just the top five teams will make it to the final and present their ideas at a live event in June 2015. The winning team will receive a €30,000 prize.

What sets Fly Your Ideas apart from other global student competitions is the deep and company-wide engagement of the Airbus teams. The assessors were drawn from right across the business, and include non-technical professionals as well as engineers and aviation experts. The multidisciplinary, multicultural teams reflect the way Airbus people work inside the company, and the firm belief that diversity is a driver of innovation.

Airbus press release