Embraer and Finep signed an agreement for the improvement of platforms that will serve to demonstrate new aeronautical technologies. (Images: Embraer)
Embraer and Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (Finep), a government organization inside Brazil’s Ministry of Science and Technologies, will companion to create and demonstrate new aviation technologies, like these connected to electric propulsion and autonomous operations.
Embraer mentioned the 3-year project will draw from BRL180 million ($36 million) in funding, like two-thirds—BRL120 million—coming from Finep. Embraer will also contribute “complementary resources” to the project.
An Embraer spokesperson told Avionics International that the project’s aim is “to create platforms to demonstrate low-mature technologies,” adding: “The fees related with [such research] are also higher … and the dangers are also higher for a single business to assume.”
Brazilian larger education institutions, such as the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica and the College of Engineering of São Carlos, a element of the University of São Paulo, will be involved in the project as effectively. The Embraer spokesperson referred to as this the “triple helix model of innovation,” describing it as “a partnership in between academia, market, and government to foster financial and social improvement.”
Embraer and Finep will guide “pre-competitive research” on new aviation technologies more than the course of 3 years. “The objective is to evaluate future technologies that will be applied for electric or hybrid propulsion, in remotely operated aircraft and in tests of autonomous operation,” the Embraer spokesperson mentioned.
The Embraer-Finep project will concentrate on building ground test benches, software program, and a remotely operated modular aircraft, which will “carry out tests in genuine flight situations, aiming to raise the [technology readiness level] of these new technologies,” according to an Embraer statement.
Henrique Langenegger and Elias Ramos de Souza
Embraer Chief Engineer Henrique Langenegger mentioned technologies created as element of the Finep project could lead to “the spillover of information to other sectors of the Brazilian economy, advancing the planet’s decarbonization agenda and producing socioeconomic rewards for Brazil, by means of innovation, science, and technologies.”
Finep Director of Innovation Elias Ramos de Souza mentioned the model getting deployed—government subsidizing financially risky study performed by market and academia—“offers good prospective for innovation.” He added: “It is a model to be followed in quite a few locations to resolve technological [challenges] led by anchor firms,” such as Embraer.
Embraer noted that governments offering subsidies for firms to study innovation is “a policy instrument extensively applied in created nations [and adheres to] the norms of the Planet Trade Organization.”