Dec 12 2007
Aéro Montréal, the aerospace cluster of Metropolitan Montreal, in collaboration with the Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Québec (CRIAQ), today opens Canada's first-ever aerospace innovation forum under the theme "Future Outlook."
This major event, being held until December 13, brings together more than 300 delegates and 35 leading speakers from Québec, Canada and abroad. It is designed to generate action plans for boosting aerospace innovation to help the industry maintain its competitive edge in this rapidly growing sector.
"Aerospace Innovation Forum 2007 has been developed by Aéro Montréal's Innovation committee and comes at a crucial time for maintaining the competitiveness of our industry in the face of globalization", explains Jacques St-Laurent, president of Bell Helicopter Textron Canada and chairman of Aéro Montréal.
The "green aircraft," an important issue related to the environment, will be discussed by international and local experts. For Jean-Pierre Mortreux, president and CEO of Esterline-CMC Electronics and chairman of the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC), there's no turning back. "From engines to new materials, electronics to simulators, we need an integrated innovation strategy that focuses increasingly on green technologies."
André Bazergui, CEO of CRIAQ, agrees: "Collaborative research is leaning more and more towards green projects in response to demands from industry and research institutions. Every area of our industry is being called on to take environmental aspects into account."
The forum offers a unique opportunity to meet key decision makers in aerospace innovation. Suzanne Benoît, CEO of Aéro Montréal, believes that the forum's networking activities represent a winning strategy. "Many industry leaders, manufacturers and innovative SMEs have enthusiastically signed up for the forum's technological B2B sessions," she notes. "More than 20 companies and research centres will display their technologies through poster sessions and six international aerospace clusters will also be represented."
The Aerospace Innovation Forum 2007 will address collaboration between industry and universities, the development of the next generation of aerospace engineers in Montréal, the future of our centres of excellence, best practices in innovation and the impacts of globalization.
"We have succeeded in bringing together the key players in our industry and I am particularly impressed by the quality of the speakers at this inaugural forum," concludes Mr. St-Laurent.