Bureaus Exclusive

Airbus Fly Your Ideas Challenge attracts over 300 teams worldwide

By China Daily Tianjin Bureau (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-02-28 17:08

Over 2,600 students have registered for the second Airbus Fly Your Ideas (FYI) university contest which challenges students from all around the world to develop new ideas for a greener aviation industry.

The contest has received a warm response from Chinese students. According to the Airbus, FYI university contest attracted 138 Chinese students who are from Tsinghua University, Beihang University, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, etc. Altogether 33 of them have been selected to advance to the second round. The number of the participating students and the number of advanced students ranks the second in the world.

More than 2,600 students from 75 different countries, with their concern about environment, have participated in the second Airbus FYI university contest. Of these 315 teams representing 287 universities, 84 teams have been selected to advance to round 2. Each of them will be supported by a mentor from Airbus so as to develop their initial ideas into more detailed submissions and they will have a chance to participate in the final at the International Paris Airshow-Le Bourget in France.

It is counted that one in five participants to FYI 2011 came from a non-technical discipline such as marketing, business, management or design, twice as many as in 2009. Four out of five have a science and / or engineering background. All continents are represented with and in particular, 44 percent of the teams are based in Europe and 39 percent in the Asia Pacific region.

Charles Champion, Airbus’ Executive Vice President Engineering and FYI Patron, said: "We are delighted to have received a record number of entries to the second Airbus FYI challenge... By engaging with universities and young people worldwide we can continue to stimulate more new ideas for a greener aviation industry. This is part of our vision for the eco-efficient aviation industry of the future."

The first Airbus Fly Your Ideas (FYI) university contest was launched in 2008, and it is a biennial contest. This time, the FYI 2010-2011 is the second with its theme of ‘Environmental Life Cycle’. Airbus encourages students all around the world to offer their fresh idea about the Environmental Life Cycle, an approach Airbus adopted to improve its environmental performance and its production process in five areas: design, supply chain, manufacturing, aircraft operations and aircraft end-of-life.

The contest involves three progressively challenging rounds. Five teams with the most scusessful projects will be chosen in May and advanced to the FYI final. The winning team will be picked by a high-profile panel of judges and granted with 30,000 Euro for the first prize and 15,000 for the second.