Marking a new step in its commitment to knowledge and research, EADS has announced the creation of the EADS Corporate Research Foundation in France. With an allocation of €24 M over five years, the foundation is intended to nurture talent, ideas and knowledge by strengthening ties between public and private research and the education, industrial and technical communities.
The foundation will support research through three complementary approaches: by allocating funds to multidisciplinary research programmes in aeronautics and space; by financing educational grants, scientific awards and conferences; and through investing in other foundations and associations of public benefit. The priority themes on which it will be working include aeronautical sciences with acoustics, aerodynamics and propulsion, along with sciences and space, focusing on research in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), navigation, automatism and piloting. Also covered will be nanotechnologies, and the study and control of energies of tomorrow.
Commenting on the necessity to develop such research in France and Europe, Philippe Camus, CEO of EADS, declared, “Research is the salvation of our enterprises. Today we cannot fail to acknowledge the alarming fact that efforts in research and development are greatly dominated by the United States and significantly escalating in Asia, putting France and Europe at a disadvantage. Fierce, international competition is emerging to attract and keep both foreign researchers and engineers as well as investments. Action must be taken to build a Europe of research. The most talented players are still in Europe; we must do our utmost to keep them here and give them the means to fulfill their potential.”