NLR and ECOMAT Join Forces in the Field of Innovative and Sustainable Aviation

During the Paris Air Show, the German ECOMAT and Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre signed a Memorandum of Understanding. With this, the two parties want to combine their scientific and business expertise with regard to lightweight constructions, hydrogen developments, materials research and virtual product development in the aircraft manufacturing industry.

The 54th International Paris Air Show Le Bourget 2023 will see the global aerospace and defense industry reunite. Those involved show their latest developments here, conclude agreements and seek new collaborations. Royal NLR also takes part in the Dutch pavilion this year together with companies and organizations from the Dutch aviation sector.

German-Dutch cooperation
Aviation must virtually reinvent itself to be climate neutral by 2050. This requires innovations in all aspects of aviation and requires a broadly supported international approach in which cooperation between knowledge institutions, aviation industry and governments is essential.

In that perspective, the German research and technology center ECOMAT and NLR confirmed their cooperation and exchange of knowledge in the field of sustainable aviation in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during the Paris Air Show.

The focus is on four topics, such as the reuse and circularity of materials in order to use these as economically as possible. In addition, it is about the development of (liquid) hydrogen applications, aimed at the goal of both the Netherlands and Airbus ZeroE to develop future aircraft that no longer have any CO2 emissions. Eventually the MoU also describes agreements on future space technology, in which developments in aerospace can complement each other, such as on the (re)use of lighter materials, and on digitization. The latter can contribute to sustainability by being able to test and certify aircraft components without the need for (destructive or full-scale) tests. Noting that CO2 emissions can also be reduced by simulating flight movements in a computer program.

“We have been talking to each other since last year”, states Collin Beers, vice president Aerospace Vehicles of Royal NLR. “After a visit to Bremen we were inspired and very much impressed by the entire set-up of ECOMAT and the aerospace knowledge and experience of companies such as Airbus, Ariane, Testia and fellow institutes DLR and Fraunhofer. It was clear that joining ECOMAT would be of great value to us and we believe that NLR can also bring a lot to ECOMAT vice versa.”

Optimal exchange
The MoU follows the recently signed contracts for office and work space for NLR at ECOMAT and the cooperation between the participants in ECOMAT with NLR in the field of sustainable aviation and space. ECOMAT offers the possibility to bring together several parties under one roof in Bremen. This way they can all benefit from an optimal exchange of knowledge and expertise.