Project Overview
The development of the Innovation Management Platform for Aeronautics was launched in November of 2010 under the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). Developed by Altran and FP7 consortium partners EADS Innovation Works, Cassidian Optronics (formerly Carl-Zeiss-Optronics), and Micos Engineering, the platform is built on a structured, workflow-based innovation process. Well-defined stages of idea generation and maturation, formal and informal reviews and feedback, lead to the selection of high-potential concepts for launch as formal projects. A continuous “technology watch” feature feeds and supports the idea development process. IMPA is designed to help generate, develop, and select novel concepts which can lead to disruptive/step-changes in aeronautics. The platform can equally be used to support and enhance incremental innovation.
Status
The IMPA development project was officially closed with the presentation of the fully functional platform to the European Commission in Brussels on 31 January 2013. Post- Project Dissemination is an ongoing process that will continue after the project termination.
Dissemination:
The preparation of dissemination had already been initiated prior to the software development phase and subsequent release of the software application. This included preparation of dissemination materials such as flyers and the project web page hosted at Altran. Awareness was already raised to the aeronautics community as early as spring of 2011 when the project was presented at Aerodays 2011 in Madrid. The distribution of flyers, updated periodically during the development of the platform has been an ongoing activity.
Several activities were performed after the development phase was completed and are ongoing in order to raise awareness and encourage use of the platform:
Recent activities:
Workshop at Hamburg Airport, 25 January 2013
A preview of the working IMPA platform was presented to the public at an event organized at the Hamburg airport convention center. Consortium partners and selected external Aviation industry participants attended the half day event, including buffet lunch. The first hour was dedicated to an internal meeting of consortium partners. At 11:00 am, the doors were open to external participants in the aviation industry. A project overview presentation was given, followed by a live demo of the platform. Altran and consortium partners demonstrated the main functions of the platform to the audience by entering new ideas into the system and showing how they can be developed, evaluated and selected through the workflow process. Technology watch features were also reviewed and explained. The live session was followed by a question and answer period. External industry participants expressed much interest in the platform.
Workshop at European Commission, Brussels, 31 January 2013
The official presentation of the IMPA platform to the European Commission and to the public took place in Brussels on 31 January 2013, marking the project completion. The presentation and live demo was attended by consortium partners and representatives of the European Commission, together with external invitees from the aviation industry and academic and research organizations. After a brief project presentation and introduction to the project and the Innovation Management process, the Innovation Management Platform was presented. An overview of the main functions was described by a live walk through of the main pages and features of the web-application. After the introduction to the platform, the interactive demo was conducted. The attendees were invited to log in, and explore and familiarize themselves with the features of the platform as users. Using the IMPA, users then participated in a specific idea campaign selected for the workshop on the topic “Improving the passenger experience”. The campaign was used to demonstrate some of the main features of the platform such as the structured collection of information (ideas) via campaign, the idea development process from idea capture to selection, and collaborative work. The benefits of the structured workflow and collaborative aspects of the platform to generate and refine ideas were successfully demonstrated as a number of interesting and innovative ideas were collected and developed. The submission of ideas contributed to the campaign during the demo demonstrated the benefits of the platform to generate many new and interesting ideas by users who had only a very short introduction to its use. Users expressed ease of use as a key characteristic and an interest in using the platform within their organizations.
Follow-up activities
Installing the IMPA at specific partner sites and selected academic institutions is now under way. The installation scripts are being updated in an effort to facilitate the installation process. Once these have been fully optimized a new release that resolves some of the installation issues encountered will be available.
The IMPA is available free of charge* to members of the aeronautics community and academic institutions within Europe. To request your copy, please contact:
Altran Business Manager / Innovation Practice Leader
Saso Jezernik / saso.jezernik@altran.com
*The basic platform is available as is without warranty or guarantee that it may conform to your organisation’s IT infrastructure or policies. Certain license fees may apply for some standard components upon which the platform is built. Depending on the organisation’s existing licenses for these components, these license fees may already be covered by your organisation’s license model. Additional fees are applicable for installation support, training, maintenance, and customization, if requested.
