ENAIRE received excellent results in the first call for the SESAR 3 programme in 2022, which was carried out in full competition among its members. The results were reported last February by the SESAR 3 public-private partnership.
The SESAR 3 joint venture is an institutionalised European partnership between private- and public-sector partners that uses research and innovation to accelerate the delivery of the Digital European Sky. It is made up of the European Commission and EUROCONTROL, with ENAIRE as one of the leading air navigation service providers, together with other key agents in the aviation sector (airlines, airports and industry).
It enhances, develops and accelerates the adoption of the most cutting-edge technological solutions for managing conventional aircraft, drones, air taxis and vehicles that fly at higher altitudes. At its meeting this past Monday the 27th, ENAIRE's Governing Board was informed that the company has been awarded 20 projects, 19 of the industrial research projects and one exploratory research project.
ENAIRE, together with its CRIDA and Ineco subsidiaries, will receive over 12 million euros from European funds for its participation in the R&D projects of the SESAR 3 JU programme. CRIDA, a leading centre on ATM Research, Development and Innovation, will continue to be the driving force behind innovation in most of ENAIRE's projects, which will also be supported by Ineco.
"Thanks to these projects, ENAIRE will continue to be a key player in the development of the European Digital Sky", says Fernando Ferrández Martín, head of ENAIRE's European Convergence Division.
Innovation is a key pillar for ENAIRE. These European funds will allow ENAIRE to move forward in its Innovation plan, which is part of ENAIRE's Strategic Plan, the 2025 Flight Plan, and which will improve the current services and facilitate the transformation and modernisation of the company and of air navigation services. ENAIRE's main areas of participation will be:
- Analysis of the benefits of the new functions.
- Improve the balance between airspace capacity and demand.
- Application of artificial intelligence to manage air traffic, including better weather forecasting.
- Improved resilience of the system architectures, including service provision from virtual centres.
- Enhanced civil-military coordination.
- Improved communications services for ground/air data exchange.
- Integration with new airspace users (drones, spacecraft, etc.).
- ENAIRE as a U-Space service provider to digitally manage the integration of drones into airspace.
