ENAIRE rewards business ideas and technological challenges involving air traffic management through the Open Innovation programme of its subsidiary, CRIDA

Yesterday, ENAIRE, the national air navigation service provider, presented the awards for the first edition of its Business Ideas Competition and the second edition of the Technological Challenges Competition. Both were managed through the Open Innovation programme of CRIDA, its research, development and innovation (R&D&I) subsidiary.

The first edition of the Business Ideas Competition incubated five short-listed ideas, with U-MICROMETEO emerging as the winner with a proposed network of drones at different heights to provide a weather forecast at a micro level.

The "U-MICROMETEO" idea won the Business Ideas Competition, worth 10,000 euros

In the second edition of the Technological Challenges Competition, the winner was the Instituto Tecnológico de Galicia (ITG) with its solution "CIA3-Classifying the Reliability of Aeronautical Information using Artificial Intelligence", which addresses the challenge of using artificial intelligence to ensure the integrity of information.

ENAIRE, as part of its commitment to open innovation, has launched several initiatives through its subsidiary CRIDA to progressively attract innovative talent and create an ecosystem around air traffic management: Competition for Business Ideas, Competition for Technological Challenges and Acceleration Competition (Startups). These competitions seek to capture ideas and solutions at different levels of maturity.

At the awards ceremony for the first edition of the Business Ideas Competition and the second edition of the Technological Challenges Competition, ENAIRE's CEO, Enrique Maurer, noted: "By presenting these awards, we materialise ENAIRE's decision to invest in open innovation, an initiative through which we seek to find ideas and potential businesses to improve the service provided by ENAIRE".

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Business Ideas Competition

The aim of the Business Ideas competition is to bolster entrepreneurship and help transform business ideas into real solutions.

Intended for undergraduates, doctoral students, professors or future entrepreneurs, the competition played out over two phases. During the first phase, five ideas were short-listed to undergo a three-month of incubation period to mature their business plan, with the idea with the best business plan being selected in the second phase.

The winner was "U-MICROMETEO", which relies on using a network of drones at different heights to improve weather forecasts at a micro level. Various applications were proposed, such as using it to detect wind shear at airports or in urban environments to ensure safe drone operations. Eduardo Sánchez Ayra (A330/350 pilot and associate professor at the Polytechnic University of Madrid) and Javier Diana López (aeronautical engineer) were the creators of the winning idea, which was worth 10,000 euros.

Technological Challenges Competition

The aim of the Technological Challenges competition is to find medium- and long-term solutions to technological challenges in the field of air transport by using technologies from other areas.

The contest proved to be very popular, receiving more than 20 proposals from prestigious universities, research centres and private companies, 25% of them international, as proposals were received from five continents (Australia, Hungary, India, Senegal and the United States).

The winner was the Instituto Tecnológico de Galicia (ITG) with its solution "CIA3-Classifying the Reliability of Aeronautical Information using Artificial Intelligence", which addresses the challenge of automation to ensure the integrity of information.

The solution proposed relies on artificial intelligence models and language technologies that yield a reliable classification of different sources of aeronautical information based on the predictions made by these models.

ITG's CEO, Carlos Calvo Orosa, and the Director of the UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) Division, Analía López Fidalgo, accepted the prize. Its participation demonstrates the commitment and experience of this institution to the search for cutting-edge solutions. The prize consists of an 18-month research agreement and a financial reward of 60,000 euros.

Acceleration Competition (Startups)

The first edition of ENAIRE's Acceleration (Startups) competition remains open, through CRIDA, until 30 June. The winning solutions will receive a 40,000-euro prize and will undergo a 6-month acceleration programme, where they will have the chance to validate their solution at ENAIRE.

About ENAIRE

ENAIRE is the air navigation service provider in Spain.

As a company of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, it provides en route control services for all flights and overflights from five control centres in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Gran Canaria and Palma, as well as approach services to every airport in the country.

In addition, 46 airports receive ENAIRE's communication, navigation and surveillance services, and 21 airports, including the country's busiest, rely on its aerodrome control services.

ENAIRE is Europe's fourth largest air traffic manager and participates in the A6 Alliance, a coalition of air navigation providers responsible for over 80% of European air traffic, and which is seeking to modernise the air traffic management system. It is also a member of other international alliances promoting the Single European sky, such as SESAR Joint Undertaking, SESAR Deployment Manager, iTEC, CANSO and ICAO.

ENAIRE, as the agency appointed by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda to implement the U-space system in Spain, will be the provider of the Common Information Services (CIS), which are essential for administering U-space services to drones and Urban Air Mobility, in interaction with local air traffic control services, so that all types of aircraft can fly safely in the same airspace.

ENAIRE has received the highest score in Europe on the aviation safety key performance indicator. It has also been awarded the EFQM 500 Seal for its safe, efficient, innovative and sustainable management of air navigation services.

About CRIDA

CRIDA A.I.E. is a non-profit group set up by ENAIRE, the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) and Ingeniería y Economía del Transporte, S.A. (INECO).

Its mission is to improve the efficiency and performance of Spain's air traffic management system by developing R&D ideas and projects that provide quantifiable solutions through system performance indicators, while considering the Spanish system as an integral part of a global system.

To do this, it must analyse the system's benefits quantitatively and systematically, diagnose problems and identify their causes, propose and design innovative alternatives, identify and validate the optimal alternatives, and actively collaborate in the process of implementing the selected solution.

The system must be analysed in direct collaboration with ENAIRE, as the main partner, thereby contributing to its mission of providing air navigation services safely while ensuring quality, efficiency and respect for the environment.