Kuala Lumpur -- Malaysian students are flying high at Airbus’ bi-annual global Fly Your Ideas competition organized in partnership with UNESCO to challenge students from all disciplines to develop new ideas and innovate for the future of sustainable aviation.
A record 5,499 students making up 356 teams from around the world registered to participate in the fifth edition of Airbus’ Fly Your Ideas. Malaysia has 14 teams in the competition.
A group of 60 Airbus experts and innovators assessed the ideas submitted by 356 teams from 89 countries. The rigorous evaluation process took place at four different Airbus locations in France, Germany, Spain and the UK, with 50 student teams selected to reach Round Two of the competition, starting in January 2017.
Three Malaysian teams made it to Round 2 - Team Putra Space from Universiti Putra Malaysia, Team Bunga Raya from Universiti Kuala Lumpur- MIAT and Team SeeLab from Universiti Kuala Lumpur-MSI.
The teams have the option to participate in one of five categories. The categories are – Manufacturing, Business models, Flight Operations, Passenger Experience, and Design Engineering.
Team Putra Space entered for the Passenger Experience category and it will explore the potential of improving cabin luggage storage technology to streamline and improve customer experience. Team Bunga Raya and Team See Lab will both compete in the Manufacturing category, with the former exploring the potential of harnessing sound energy from the plane to power electronics on board the flight, and the latter on the use of bio-inspired artificial intelligence to inspect and detect defects of composite aerospace structures.
The competition is led by teams registered in the Asia-Pacific region. The 50 teams comprise 202 students representing 38 different nationalities. With 52% of teams mixing male and female students, two thirds of all teams are diverse in some way, for example with members coming from different countries or studying different subjects. This reflects Airbus’ commitment to diversity which it sees as an essential driver for innovation and success.
“Fly Your Ideas is unique and we are proud of the company-wide engagement of Airbus employees who support the competition, either as assessors, mentors or experts”, says Charles Champion, Airbus Executive Vice President Engineering. “We are offering students the rare opportunity to interact directly with senior specialists from across the business. In turn, these experts will benefit from their direct interaction with talents from across the globe, all sharing the same passion for one of the world’s most exciting industries.”
Since its inception in 2009, Malaysia and Malaysians have been keen supporters and participants of the Fly Your Ideas competition.
Malaysia’s first astronaut, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor was one of the panel judges for the first Fly Your Ideas Competition in 2009 while Team Malaysia on Mars and Team Embarker made it all the way to the finals in 2011 and 2013, respectively. In 2015, a record number of four Malaysian teams made it to Round 2 of the competition.
Each of the teams has 100 days to refine and develop their ideas. The top five teams to make it through to Round Three will spend a week at the “ProtoSpace” based at the Airbus HQ in Toulouse to prototype, test and visualise their ideas using state-of-the art equipment with personalised guidance from Airbus. The winning team will receive a €30,000 prize, the runner up team €15,000, at a live prize giving event in May 2017.
From January 2017, the 50 teams will start developing their ideas and share updates on their progress with photos, sketches and stories posted on www.airbus-fyi.com.
A record 5,499 students making up 356 teams from around the world registered to participate in the fifth edition of Airbus’ Fly Your Ideas. Malaysia has 14 teams in the competition.
A group of 60 Airbus experts and innovators assessed the ideas submitted by 356 teams from 89 countries. The rigorous evaluation process took place at four different Airbus locations in France, Germany, Spain and the UK, with 50 student teams selected to reach Round Two of the competition, starting in January 2017.
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| Team Bunga Raya ready to roll with the power of sound, transformed into usable energy in-flight. |
The teams have the option to participate in one of five categories. The categories are – Manufacturing, Business models, Flight Operations, Passenger Experience, and Design Engineering.
Team Putra Space entered for the Passenger Experience category and it will explore the potential of improving cabin luggage storage technology to streamline and improve customer experience. Team Bunga Raya and Team See Lab will both compete in the Manufacturing category, with the former exploring the potential of harnessing sound energy from the plane to power electronics on board the flight, and the latter on the use of bio-inspired artificial intelligence to inspect and detect defects of composite aerospace structures.
The competition is led by teams registered in the Asia-Pacific region. The 50 teams comprise 202 students representing 38 different nationalities. With 52% of teams mixing male and female students, two thirds of all teams are diverse in some way, for example with members coming from different countries or studying different subjects. This reflects Airbus’ commitment to diversity which it sees as an essential driver for innovation and success.
“Fly Your Ideas is unique and we are proud of the company-wide engagement of Airbus employees who support the competition, either as assessors, mentors or experts”, says Charles Champion, Airbus Executive Vice President Engineering. “We are offering students the rare opportunity to interact directly with senior specialists from across the business. In turn, these experts will benefit from their direct interaction with talents from across the globe, all sharing the same passion for one of the world’s most exciting industries.”
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| Team Putra Space wants to revolutionize storage so that you never spend unnecessary time placing and removing cabin luggage! |
Malaysia’s first astronaut, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor was one of the panel judges for the first Fly Your Ideas Competition in 2009 while Team Malaysia on Mars and Team Embarker made it all the way to the finals in 2011 and 2013, respectively. In 2015, a record number of four Malaysian teams made it to Round 2 of the competition.
Each of the teams has 100 days to refine and develop their ideas. The top five teams to make it through to Round Three will spend a week at the “ProtoSpace” based at the Airbus HQ in Toulouse to prototype, test and visualise their ideas using state-of-the art equipment with personalised guidance from Airbus. The winning team will receive a €30,000 prize, the runner up team €15,000, at a live prize giving event in May 2017.
From January 2017, the 50 teams will start developing their ideas and share updates on their progress with photos, sketches and stories posted on www.airbus-fyi.com.
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| Team SeeLab hopes their concept of bio-inspired artificial intelligence defect detection can be brought to life at the next round of FYI'17. |
Key figures Fly Your Ideas 2017:
- Number of ideas submitted: 356
- Number of countries involved: 89 (85 different nationalities)
- Number of universities involved: 348
- Top 5 countries: India – 64 teams, China & HK – 44 teams, Spain – 29 teams, Indonesia – 24 teams, United Kingdom – 20 teams
- Gender mix: 51% of teams are mixed gender
- Number of ideas chosen: 50
- Number of countries involved: 41 (38 different nationalities)
- Number of universities involved: 57
- Top 7 countries: China & HK - 9 teams, Singapore – 5 teams, United Kingdon – 4 teams, Australia – 3 teams, Indonesia – 3 teams, Malaysia – 3 teams, Spain - 3 teams
- Gender mix: 52 % of teams are mixed gender
Airbus Fly Your Ideas competition – since the 2008 launch:
- 5 competitions in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017
- Partnership with UNESCO since 2012
- More than 100 countries represented
- Over 650 universities supporting
- More than 20,000 students registered
- Over 400 Airbus staff involved
- 1,900+ ideas submitted