COOEPRANTS participates as an exhibitor at the annual network meeting of Niedersachsen Aviation on 4 December in Stade
Lower Saxony’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Olaf Lies, will be informed about COOPERANTS’ ambitions to accelerate the digitalisation of the aerospace industry
Stade, 04 December 2023: The annual network meeting of Niedersachsen Aviation took place on 04 December at CFK Nord (Composites United e. V.) in Stade. As part of various company tours, Stade demonstrated its expertise as a top location for the aerospace industry.
CFK Nord not only acts as an important specialist platform and central location in Lower Saxony, but also as a hub for high-tech research. The focus here is on the interdisciplinary exchange of know-how and the presentation of innovative applications in the field of lightweight structures, in particular carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP).
In keeping with the venue, the networking highlight for the aerospace industry in Lower Saxony focussed on the topic of sustainability in the aerospace industry with a focus on lightweight construction. The highlight of the event was a prominent panel discussion with the following participants: Lower Saxony’s Economics Minister Olaf Lies, Dr Andre Walter (CEO, Airbus Aerostructures GmbH), Prof Dr Bernd Mayer (Director of Fraunhofer IFAM) and Alexander Reinhardt (Managing Director of the German Aerospace Industries Association). The panellists agreed that sustainable flight and steady growth in the industry can only be achieved if industry, SMEs, research, development and politics work together to achieve these goals.
In addition to other aspects of the event, such as the company tours at lunchtime and the announcement of the results of the video competition, there was also an accompanying exhibition at which organisations and exhibits were presented. The Gaia-X project COOPERANTS was represented at a stand by Götz Anspach von Broecker (Airbus) and Julian Hofhans (AVIASPACE BREMEN e.V.), who informed Lower Saxony’s Economics Minister Olaf Lies about the COOPERANTS project during the networking breaks. COOPERANTS was equally linked to two major projects: the drone service testing area (U-Space Laboratory Northern Germany) and the SADRE project (Situational Awareness Centre for Maritime Buoys using Satellite Data and Drones). As a transversal project, the latter would build on COOPERANTS and its toolsets and build a bridge between the federal government/states on the one hand, research/development/industry and start-ups on the other, as well as across the aviation/space/maritime safety and environmental protection sectors in the third party – Minister Lies was enthusiastic and promised immediate political support from his office. Further steps were agreed on the spot.
Olaf Lies then emphasised the importance of digitalisation for the aerospace industry once again during the panel discussion. In addition, many other valuable contacts were made, because only together can the digitalisation of the aerospace industry succeed.
