About the project

Moving Towards Aerospace (MAE) is an Interreg Europe project. The aim is to kick-start and support the transformation of production chains in the aerospace industry.

8 full partners and 2 associate policy authorities from 7 European regions have joined forces with Interreg Europe co-funding. Together they will improve their regional policies and design aerospace ecosystems.

MAE’s overall objective is to develop public policies that support a responsible transformation of relevant industrial sectors towards the future orientated, aerospace sector. MAE achieves this by using interregional learning and a responsible innovation approach that reflects on and anticipates potential transformation impact and considers the:

Victor Rijkaart and Jos van den Boom are active in building Eco-systems in which TU Delft plays an important role in cooperation with other partners from industry and government for the transformation in sustainability and digitalization in aerospace. The Delft Region is the centre of the Zuid Holland Aerospace Delta. In May 2023, the Aerospace Delta unveiled a comprehensive long-term program, the Aerospace Delta Agenda 2030. The Agenda  involves strengthening and regional collaboration within the Aerospace Delta Cluster. 

Emad Yaghmaei from TPM takes care of responsible design of sustainable aviation by considering ethical aspects, developing responsibility-by-design roadmaps and standards for Aerospace ecosystem actors to guide them to develop long-term strategies to innovate responsibly. His work covers governance of organisations and processes with a focus on their ethical, social, and governmental impacts in the aviation sector. In MAE, Emad is especially interested in designing and developing necessary policies and methods for the implementation, evaluation, and assessment of responsible innovation within the Aerospace context. Technology, Policy, and Management (TPM) Faculty research in MAE lies in the intersection of science, innovation, technology, and society. TPM work takes the outset in Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and its institutionalisation within stakeholders across aerospace innovation ecosystems

Results and achievements

May 2023: The first meeting of partners and stakeholders within the MAE project took place in Delft at the Aerospace Innovation Hub during which the following activities were carried out:

• Presentation of the MAE project, including technical and administrative aspects;
• Presentation of each partner, the partner's territory and its challenges;
• Discussions on the model aerospace ecosystem;
• Organizing a masterclass on a responsible innovation approach to industrial transformation, with a focus on the aerospace industry;
• The study visit to Aerospace Innovation Hub (community) and the adjacent science park TU Delft Campus;
• SAM XL (smart advanced manufacturing);
• Unmanned Valley (drone cluster and test centre);
• YES!DELFT Incubator
• AERO DELFT  (hydrogen a/c student team)

After the study visits, a final discussion was held to summarize the key learnings from the two-day meeting, to agree on the objectives and to plan the interregional learning activity until the next project meeting. 

October 2023: The second partner meeting took part in Bodø and Andøy (Norway), hosted by the partner Nordland County Council.

Project partners had the opportunity to learn more about the national and regional strategy for boosting the aerospace sector with environmental and social sustainability concerns in mind. After the opening session at the headquarters of the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority in Bodø, partners moved north to Andøy. Here, the MAE partners visited the company Andøya Space and the soon-to-be completed spaceport, a newly built launch facility.
 

Next stop for MAE will be in Forlì (Italy) in April 2024.