Fly Your Ideas with Airbus

Five Australian teams have made it through to Round 2 of Fly Your Ideas 2015. They’re from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and they’re all attending the Australian International Airshow, Avalon 2015. The Airshow runs until the 1^st of March and students from Teams Ivy, AIRS, Aerofloat, Aeroheat and Aeroweave are taking the opportunity to soak up some real inspiration for their ideas at this major event.

Isabelle Floret from Airbus SVP Pacific said, "Today's students will define aviation's development in the future. Fly Your Ideas is a great way, to get students engaged in the future of aviation so why wait?" By attending Avalon 2015, the teams will have the chance to meet exhibitors, interact with aviation industry experts and see the latest technology in action. All useful real-life stimuli for student innovators hoping to secure a spot in the final, which will take place in Hamburg, Germany in May 2015.

By now, Round 2 teams are working closely with their Airbus Mentors and Experts to make their ideas as well-developed as possible. "Feedback from our Airbus mentor, Arnaud Evrard, and the Airbus expert in Hamburg, has already helped us to re-evaluate our initial concept", added aerospace student Thang Nguyen of Team AIRS.

"We're looking at ways to make aviation growth sustainable and we often take our clues from nature. Fly Your Ideas is an excellent platform to promote our own innovative thinking," said Graham Dorrington, Senior Lecturer at RMIT, who is also supporting the RMIT teams with their diverse ideas.

"We are really pleased to have 5 different teams competing in Round 2. The Airbus mentor and expert support arrangement is really useful to help develop distils workable ideas". David Purser, engineering and management double degree student from Team Ivy also adds that "our team name and the project idea we are developing for FYI was definitely bio-inspired!'

Meet Nicole Batarce from Team Condor, Fly Your Ideas 2011 runners up! Here is her account of progressing through the Fly Your Ideas challenge, and her advice for Round 2 teams.

“Team Condor is from Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María in Chile.

Our idea was for an alternative design of speed brake. When an aircraft takes off or lands, a lot of energy is lost. Our ‘Energy Recovery Speed Brake’ would sit behind the speed brake, with blades that rotate with the airflow and generate energy. 

One of our biggest challenges was persevering with our project during the 6-week university vacation as we had nowhere to meet and test out our device. We also found it complicated to coordinate our schedules – I study in Valparaiso city and the rest of the team are in Santiago, so we could only meet on weekends to work on our model and eventually try it in the wind tunnel.

We had an incredible Airbus Mentor that worked with us, and offered help when we needed it. Ahead of the final, we also worked with specialist coaches who helped us get ready to meet the press and to present our project to the jury. This was really useful, both for the final and for our future professional interactions. 

Personally, this experience has taught me a lot about being an effective team leader and motivating everyone. We learnt how to brainstorm together to come up with new solutions when something wasn’t working properly. 

In my opinion Fly Your Ideas was the best experience of my life! Team Condor still gets together to reminisce about our experience, and I have really learnt so much and have become more knowledgeable on many topics relevant to my studies and future career. 

My advice to Fly Your Ideas 2015 teams, stay motivated and work hard! Never give up. This challenge will make you grow as a person and as a professional in so many ways.”

You already know that Fly Your Ideas is a global student competition, where students who are passionate about the future of aviation are invited to develop their ideas and innovate with Airbus. But what sets the competition apart from other major industry-sponsored challenges is the unique opportunity for students to work closely with Airbus Mentors, Experts and Assessors. Here’s a round-up of the Airbus people who participate and their roles.

Airbus Mentors volunteer from various departments across the company to work with Round 2 teams. Their role is to support their team with the direction and structure of their project, and to help the team with the presentation of their ideas. They don’t provide specific technical solutions – it’s about encouraging their team’s creativity. 

Airbus Structural Engineer and ‘Wing Integrator’, Stuart King is a former Team Mentor. Stuart says that “I absolutely loved being involved in the competition… My role as mentor has been to help steer conversations to encourage teams to take practical considerations into account whilst also advising against lines of enquiry that are unlikely to succeed.”

Then there’s the Airbus Experts. Based on their specialist area of knowledge, they are matched with teams developing projects in their field. They offer occasional advice to Round 2 teams at key stages during the development of their ideas.

Finally, there’s Airbus Assessors. These Airbus members are specially selected to evaluate the teams’ work, based on their area of expertise. They offer useful feedback for each team too. Mary Frost is an Airbus Senior Expert in Fuel & Inerting Systems and Fly Your Ideas assessor since 2009. She notes that “Students need to try to understand what the real issues are with the operation of an aircraft and where a novel idea can provide a good solution.”

Round 2 teams get an ‘open line’ to this range of talented, experienced people as they progress through each round. Fly Your Ideas alumni consider this exposure and first-class insight to be a particularly valuable aspect of their experience in the competition, relevant to not just their Fly Your Ideas projects but also to their studies and career development. So Round 2 teams, take advantage of this chance to ask questions, improve your ideas, get useful feedback and make your idea as good as it possibly can be for a place in the final!

Teams have until 12 noon GMT on 30 March 2015 to complete their Round 2 submission requirements; a written report of up to 5,000 words, a video up to 2 minutes long. You can find detailed technical specifications and other information in your Team Centre.

Have you checked out our Round 2 Teamlines yet? These are the go-to personal spaces for teams to post photos, videos, text and links related to their Ideas to show their progression throughout the competition. Teams can post anything related to their Ideas or themselves - like photos of the team in action or interesting videos they have found in their research.

With Teamlines, our 100 Round 2 teams can also engage with Fly Your Ideas supporters who share their interest and passion for the aviation industry. And they’re the perfect way for teams to share their work and their involvement in the competition with the rest of the world by linking to their Teamlines via social media. 

Making the Most of Your Teamline:

• Use high definition (300 dpi) images and in JPEG format
• Get your university photographer (or a friend studying photography!) to take headshots of each team member and post these with an introduction to each person
• Take a team picture in a special location at your university
• Share your Round 2 sketches on your timelines and show off your team’s creative skills!
• Use the social media share button to let all your friends know how you’re doing on Letsconnect, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram?
• Try to add an image to every post. A picture speaks a thousand words so this helps make your posts a lot shorter!

We’ll also be showcasing our top Teamline of the Week (TOTW). This is a unique opportunity to get your team’s work noticed by Airbus employees as well as the rest of the global Fly Your Idea community. Every week, the Fly Your Ideas support team will select the top Teamline, based on post frequency, relevance of posts, creativity and number of shares on social media.

Teamlines of the Week will be announced each week and communicated through Airbus TV and other internal communication channels. Each month we will review the four winning teams, and the top team will get a special Airbus prize for each member. 

So what are you waiting for? Explore the Fly Your Ideas teamlines here and participating teams - be creative, get posting and share your Fly Your Ideas experience for your chance to be Teamline of The Week winners!

You’ve had the ‘Eureka’ moment. You’ve submitted your great aviation innovation for Fly Your Ideas 2015. Perhaps you can already imagine the fully realised concept - but all you have so far is the seed of something potentially great. The next step is to convince everyone else of the unique potential of your concept.

Luckily, there’s a simple way to win your audience over – from your teammates to your Airbus Mentors and your university professors, or even a potential investor. Creating a simple sketch to illustrate your idea is one of the requirements for Round 2 teams, but it’s also a valuable tool that anyone can use to win support for their ideas.

By sketching out your idea, you bring it to life. You immediately identify what’s most compelling and different about your proposal, spot where the potential problems are. What part of your concept is hardest to draw? Chances are that it’s going to be an obstacle to developing your idea in ‘real life’ too.

Wait, you can’t draw? Harnessing the power of visual thinking isn’t about the quality of your artwork. By trying to draw, instead of write, think or speak, you’re actually using the part of your brain that can help you solve problems and communicate your ideas more effectively with other people. It means that you can quickly generate and capture suggestions, consider alternatives, and filter out the impossible from the previously unconsidered. An idea in ‘sketch’ form is easier to contribute to, so that everybody’s input is heard and valued. 

Airbus Corporate Innovator Gary Wicks says that a picture really can be worth a 1000 words (as the old saying goes). “Visual thinking works in 360^o. Producing a simple sketch helps organise and clarify thoughts, and is a great way to rapidly build empathy with everyone “touched” by The Idea. In my job, the words “I see what you mean” are music to my ears!”

What are you waiting for? Teams selected for Round 2 must submit a simple sketch to illustrate their idea and if you didn’t make it to Round 2, don’t give up, maybe a sketch is the missing element that will help you take your idea further. Pencils to the ready!

Here’s one of the most famous back-of-a-napkin sketches of all time. It shows the core business model of Southwest Airlines – a regional airline serving 3 equidistant major cities in the US.  Sketching has a long history in business, and it’s still used as a core tool by cutting-edge design and innovation agencies. Follow these links for more inspiration: https://openideo.com/blog/adding-visual-goodness-to-your-ideas http://www.geekwire.com/2013/seattle-10/