Airbus is accelerating its research and technology cooperation efforts in China, leveraging the country's strong innovation capability.

Airbus Beijing Engineering Centre (ABEC), the advanced projects outpost of Airbus in China, is driving R&T projects that aim to disrupt the aerospace industry and cover eight topics including, but not limited to, nanomaterials, multifunctional composites, morphing structures, 3D printing and visual recognition.

In 2018, Airbus launched its biggest ever wave of R&T initiatives in China. As part of it, ABEC is announcing a series of cooperation agreements with its Chinese partners at the 2018 China Airshow held in the southern coastal city Zhuhai. The aim is to explore the application of cutting-edge technologies on advanced materials, smart structure and digital solutions in the aeronautical industry.

A new joint lab on aeronautical smart structures, between Airbus and Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA), will be open for R&T activities on smart structure design, advanced actuation and control systems and advanced sensing and monitoring technologies.

Airbus also opened a new lab jointly with Northwestern Polytechnical University, following the previous agreement by the two parties to conduct cooperative research and development activities around additive manufacturing technology and special materials for the aviation industry.

"We have developed real expertise in the past ten years in our Engineering Centre. With extended partners in China, we endeavour to develop some solutions that can be applied on aircraft to improve efficiency and environmental-friendly performance and bring added value for our airline customers and passengers," said Francois Mery, COO of Airbus China commercial aircraft.

Since its creation in 2005, ABEC, a joint venture between Airbus and China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC), has been successfully taking part in designing components for all Airbus programmes including the A350 XWB and A380, with specific design work of some 5% of the A350 airframe work packages carried out in China.

Currently around 130 Chinese engineers work at ABEC, applying their skills and competencies in line with Airbus' highest standards and using state-of-the-art technologies. They develop engineering solutions along the full life cycle of an aircraft, which covers areas from research and design to manufacturing and in service support.

Contributed by Airbus