Bruno Sainjon, ONERA CEO, and the International Affairs department of ONERA visited Montreal in early April for the signing of an initial cooperation agreement between ICAO and IFAR. Another significant aspect of this visit was the opportunity to sign a framework agreement with NASA.
A cooperation agreement on aviation innovation was signed on 7 April by Secretary-General Juan Carlos Salazar of the OACI and the Chair of IFAR, Ibrahim Yimer of the CNRC, in the presence of the Chairman of the Board of the ICAO, Salvatore Sciacchitano, other Board representatives, and members of IFAR*, with ONERA, DLR and NASA at the forefront.
ICAO and IFAR have recognised the need for an independent assessment of future innovations to guide and protect the general interest, in the context of wide-ranging changes that are transforming the aerospace industry.
Focussing on the promotion of the innovative and sustainable development of international civil aviation on a global scale, the Memorandum of Understanding calls on ICAO and IFAR to cooperate in order to achieve their respective objectives in terms of safety, security and sustainability, and to collaborate in the scientific evaluation of new innovation pathways.
The aviation sector contributes directly to 15 of the 17 UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The support provided by the agreement will ensure that these innovations fully contribute to the role of aviation as a catalyst for sustainable development in the world.
* IFAR is currently chaired by Ibrahim Yimer of the NRC, joined in 2021 by Bruno Sainjon as Vice-Chair.
Signing of a framework agreement with NASA
ONERA took the opportunity at this ICAO IFAR meeting to sign a framework cooperation agreement with NASA. Minutely prepared in 2021, the framework agreement will facilitate the launch of new scientific cooperative initiatives.
Bruno Sainjon and Robert Pearce, NASA Director, praised the continuity and success of the cooperation there has been between the two institutions in several areas, such as icing and aircraft acoustics. This cooperation is set to expand to cover the new field of UAVs.
