The first of the five is the Arizona Aerospace Institute Initiative. Arizona is a state with significant advantages in the aerospace industry. Its climate is close to ideal for propulsion testing, and it is (relatively) close to both Houston and the NASA Ames facility, as well as the Mesa-Phoenix Gateway Airport and the Air Force Research Lab.
The AAI aims to capitalize on Arizona's location and existing infrastructure to create a functioning aerospace industry despite what it sees as a coming wave of retirement with in the industry. Indeed, the Initiative would “address the critical workforce development needs of the industry,” through education and training, thus providing a solid and sustainable workforce. In the Aerospace Institute Initial Assessment, the authors cite the choice between focus on research topics (specific sciences) and focus on “deploying or commercializing these technologies and resolving aerospace challenges.” The AAI chooses the second option as more viable, proposing to use its expertise to connect the industry with the help and resources it requires, instead of choosing resources to supply. However, the Initial Assessment does not the Arizona Mayo Clinic as a potential major partner, allowing the AAI to develop human factors technologies (a growing field). While the AAI does not appear to be up and running at present, it is worth noting that its Initial Assessment was posted in February 2009, just before the market crash, and that its long-term viability may have been temporarily obscured by economic turmoil.
The second Arizona-based initiative, the Aerospace & Defense Research Collaboratory, is based out of Arizona State University. It was established with approximately $2 million in startup capital, half provided by the Science Foundation Arizona’s Aerospace and Defense Initiative, and half raised by research and corporate partners. In contrast to the AAI, the ADRC chooses areas of research, stating that its research is focused on “three interconnected areas:
- Machine-to-machine and human-to-machine interactions and integration [human factors]
- Visioning, simulation, and modeling and visualization
- Information management and information assurance"
As the ADRC is relatively new, we will await further news with impatience; as it has already established a strategic partnership with Aero Montreal (more below), the future looks bright!
The Ohio Aerospace Institute is well-established, having been founded in 1989. It is a not-for-profit organization, focusing on research and research preparedness, as well as helping its members connect with international networks. It has three organizational teams: Research and Educational Programs, Technology and Innovation Partnerships, and Operations and Finance. Thus, while the OAI does work with specific research areas, in that it facilitates partnerships between key actors, its main focus is not on any one technology, but instead on the continual interplay of education/training, marketing/funding, and operations. Given that the OAI has grown to have 80 employees (many institutes have volunteers instead) and $16million or more in revenue each year, its structure appears to be a success. Recent research topics facilitated by the OAI include propulsion, the engineering of bearings in a vacuum, and acoustics and noise generation.
The fourth case study, Aero Montreal, describes itself as, “a strategic think tank that brings together all the major decision makers in Québec’s aerospace sector, including companies, educational and research institutions, associations and unions. [Our] mission is to mobilize industry players around common goals and focused actions to increase cohesion and optimize competitiveness.” The focus of Aero Montreal’s objectives shows the continued dependence of the private sector on the funding of governments; clearly, this theme exists not only in the United States. In order to achieve its goals, Aero Montreal shares the method of enabling communication between companies and organizations in order both to focus research (and thus eliminate inefficiencies), and also to present a united front to the public and to the government.
At present, Aero Montreal has developed five “work groups,” similar to those seen in the OAI. The five are Supply Chain Development, Branding and Promotion, Innovation, Human Resources, and Defense and National Security. Each work group has a "Champion," and additional members, pulled from universities and private companies. As noted above, It is worth noting that Aero Montreal and the Aerospace & Defense Research Collaboratory just signed a collaboration agreement in which each party declared its intent to exchange information about projects, programs, research, and events (among other things), and to work together to define and implement economic missions.
Farnborough Aerospace Consortium (FAC), the fifth and final case study, describes itself as an organization that is "enabling its members to improve their business-winning opportunities and capabilities." In this case, the organization focuses on bringing prospective investors in contact with suppliers of aerospace goods and services - these suppliers can range from universities, turning out qualified candidates, to other companies looking for clients. There are over 300 member companies, both domestic and international, and the focus of the FAC is very much on marketing these private companies, both to each other and to the international market. FAC also recently launched a free job searching capability, allowing job seekers to search for jobs within all of the member companies, and conversely allowing member companies to advertise to a wider group of prospective employees. This is the only case in which the intersect between the public and private spheres is less of a focus, and one does not see the same investment in public education (U.S. terminology) that can be seen in the cases of the state initiatives listed above.
Each of the five organizations here has the potential to continue successfully within the industry - indeed, the track records of all excepting the newest, AAI, suggest that they will continue successfully. Each highlights a niche market within the area economy, pointing out the areas of need. It is this sort of organization that helps develop the aerospace industry as a whole by facilitating the development of whatever aspect may be lacking in a certain geographic area. The organizations can serve as an important link between public, traditional national entities and the universities they fund, and the private sphere.
What are your thoughts? Are there organizations I should have included?
