The Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace of Quebec - CRIAQ announces 6 new collaborative research and development projects, for a total of 17 projects approved and funded by the industry and the Quebec government to advance aerospace technology innovations in Quebec in direct response to market demand.

These 6 new collaborative research and innovation partnerships bring together 7 national and international private companies, in addition to 5 academic research centres pooling their expertise to create new solutions.

Since the Quebec government launched the Quebec Aerospace Strategy Horizon 2026 last February, CRIAQ has set up 17 research partnerships involving a total of 24 companies and 12 research centres for a total value of $38 million. Of this total investment, $15 million comes directly from public funds announced by the Quebec Government, MEIE in April 2022. In addition to these public funds, there are budgetary envelopes from Mitacs and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

One of the major strengths of CRIAQ's R&D investment model is the leverage effect that public funds generate by necessarily adding private sector investments. In the creation of these collaborative research partnerships, the companies that are part of them must invest, which brings the total amount of investment to two, and sometimes, even three times that amount.

"To meet the major challenges facing the entire global aerospace ecosystem and accelerate the transition to a new resilient and sustainable air mobility, we must be bold and invest in research and development. It is crucial that Quebec consolidate its leadership position by accelerating the evolution of the entire sector through new technologies geared towards decarbonization, customer-centric air mobility of the future and its renewal in the digital age," says Alain Aubertin, President and CEO of CRIAQ.

In a global context where the aerospace industry is facing, more than ever, the challenges of political, economic, technological, societal, and environmental changes; CRIAQ is firmly committed to the increase of the mobilization of the research and innovation community, industrial and governmental partners, and other collaborators of the ecosystem, to stimulate diversity, creativity, talent development and the emergence of entrepreneurs and innovators to support the evolution of the sector.

"Every day at CRIAQ, our role is to bring ideas together, to stimulate them, and sometimes even to confront them with the aim of creating innovation. For the past 20 years, with the financial support of the Quebec government, we have been linking the specialized scientific researchers of our universities with the industrial sector to further develop science and technological solutions to strengthen the leadership of the Quebec aerospace industry," adds Mr. Aubertin.

See the annex for a full list of the 17 new projects and partners teams. Further details are available on request.

64 new project ideas will also be presented by aerospace companies at the RDV Forum 2023 on February 14 and 15, 2023, at the largest meeting of its kind in Canada, bringing together aerospace technology experts. These experts will present their projects with the aim of creating partnerships that will be supported by CRIAQ in setting up these projects and their financing. All the details on this high place of discussions on aerospace technologies and solutions of the future can be found here: https://rdvforum2023.criaq.aero/en.