The aviation sector in the Netherlands is largely concentrated around Schiphol: more than 68,000 people (57,000 FTE) work at and around the airport to ensure that the airport functions (these are jobs at airlines, the airport, ground handling companies, customs, security companies, service companies and repair and maintenance companies). To maintain this employment and aviation expertise, it is very important that the aviation sector continues to strengthen its international competitive position.
Large international airports such as Schiphol, in addition to their position as a global traffic hub, are also a testing ground for technological innovations due to the strong concentration of aviation-related activity. Companies and authorities at and around the airport jointly form an ecosystem where innovations and partnerships come together. This creates unique locations where manufacturing industry, training and knowledge institutions, governments and end users work on current and future challenges by jointly conducting research and development and learning from implementation and exploitation. The sustainability and digitization of aviation can only be achieved in these ecosystems with intensive cooperation between all parties and disciplines.
To remain internationally progressive, the aviation ecosystem at and around Schiphol must continue to develop. The R&D Mobility Regulation offers a window of opportunity to strengthen and further expand the international competitive position of the Dutch aviation sector and the ecosystem around Schiphol. This will strengthen the position of the various partners within the project and prevent the Dutch aviation sector from losing its progressive international position compared to the competition.
The BrightSky project is an open partnership that aims to stimulate intensive and long-term collaboration with, and innovation at, many companies in the aviation sector. BrightSky is therefore a fertile breeding ground for R&D within and outside the aviation sector in general. BrightSky aims to allow Dutch aviation to play a leading role in Europe for a long time and to prepare itself to take advantage of new economic opportunities.
BrightSky emphasizes the following three integral aspects:
- Social innovation – how do we obtain a healthy workforce where, with the right direction, we can develop talents in the direction demanded by technological developments and which meet the challenges presented by the market?
- Digitization – how do we use the opportunities that the innovative possibilities of digitization (storage, work content, scanning, data sharing and preventive maintenance) offer us?
- Sustainability – how do we approach the subject of sustainability (labour potential, ecosystem development, economic and environmental impact)? How do the work packages contribute to the sustainability goals for 2030?
Through this project, the consortium partners want to focus on innovation as a means to accelerate and strengthen the position of the Dutch aviation sector at and around the airport. Schiphol will initially be used as a testing ground where all expertise will come together to test and validate technological innovations and, due to its unique ‘brand’ as an important airport in the exploitation phase, will form a springboard for further international roll-out. Close cooperation with educational and knowledge institutions makes it possible to also act on a possible shortage of (skilled) technical personnel. In this way, the consortium aims to continue to invest in technological innovation and skilled personnel, which will strengthen the competitive position of the Dutch aviation sector at and around the airport in a future-oriented manner.
brightsky.nl 