Airbus China Innovation Centre (ACIC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Huawei, a leading global provider of information and communications technology infrastructure and smart devices, to cooperate on research and applications for inflight connectivity and the Internet of Things (IOT) at Airshow China.

With the publication of the "Guidelines for the Evaluation of the Use of Portable Electronic Devices (PED) on board" by the Civil Aviation Administration of China this year, the ban on the use of mobile phones has gradually been lifted for domestic Chinese air travel. The cooperation between ACIC and Huawei will combine the advantages of both parties to create a new inflight high-speed connectivity experience, while also laying a solid foundation for connectivity research in the future.

Airbus China Innovation Centre also plans to explore the application of Internet of Things (IOT) technology in aerospace manufacturing with Huawei to develop the digitalisation, visualisation and analytics of Airbus manufacturing sites in China to achieve high security, high precision and high efficiency operations.

Based in Shenzhen, Airbus China Innovation Centre is the first Innovation Centre set up by Airbus in Asia. Its mission is to fully leverage local advantages including innovative talents, partners and the eco-system, and combine this with Airbus' expertise in aerospace to explore breakthroughs in technologies, business models and new growth opportunities. ACIC is now fully operational with the official office opening ceremony due to take place in early 2019.

Contributed by Airbus