Global Aerospace Cluster Partnership

2024

EACP and GACP network gather together for their annual Global Aerospace Cluster Forum. 

On Friday, 26 July 2024, the entire EACP and GACP network came together for our much anticipated Global Aerospace Cluster Partnership Forum 2024.

We had a great time filled with interesting discussions, inspiring keynotes and valuable networking time. 

Special thanks go to the Embassy of Ireland, Great Britain for hosting and welcoming us so well, and to Sean Long of Enterprise Ireland for showcasing Ireland's remarkable contributions to the aerospace sector.

We would also like to thank Yuri Fattah of ICAO for his inspiring keynote on the future of the aerospace sector and Jarrod Morley of AéroMontréal for sharing valuable insights on developing eco-responsible initiatives within a cluster.

In addition to this valuable input, we celebrated the official inclusion of two more clusters with the signing of the respective Letters of Intent (LoI). What a pleasure, to see our global community steadily growing! A very warm welcome once again at this point to Chihuahua's Aerospace Cluster from Mexico and CAMASA South Africa! We are delighted to have you as part of our global community.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this very special event for our network. It was a pleasure to see so many familiar faces again and to meet new ones.

2023

The Global Aerospace Cluster Partnership officially launches!

Paris, 23rd June – The EACP made history! With the signature ceremony during the Paris Air Show, the Global Aerospace Cluster Partnership (GACP) was officially established. In the first official GACP meeting 12 clusters and cluster facilitators from around the world got together forming a starting point for the collaborative efforts, which characterise the mission of the GACP.

Supported by Aéro Montréal, Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), the Government of Québec, and the International Aviation Supply Chain (IASC), the formation of the GACP sends a clear message that cluster initiatives worldwide are joining forces to address critical issues such as sustainability, skills shortage, and business development.

Beginning in 2017, the Global Aerospace Cluster summits have been a significant catalyst for collaboration among aerospace clusters worldwide. The annual summits have provided a platform for clusters to connect, exchange ideas, and explore opportunities for growth and partnerships. During the 2022 summit at the Farnborough International Airshow, the desire for a more frequent exchange opportunity amongst the clusters was a key point of discussion and interest. Building upon the success of these summits, the GACP was born out of a shared vision and the desire for more frequent and extensive exchange opportunities among aerospace clusters.

The EACP will continue to support global clusters in strengthening these ties and the GACP strives to become the preferred point of contact for European clusters and SMEs on global aerospace markets. The GACP aims to facilitate meaningful exchanges, joint initiatives, and synergies among its partners to benefit member companies. By addressing common challenges and exploring innovative solutions, the partnership seeks to drive growth, sustainability, and competitiveness across the aerospace sector. Leveraging the momentum of the EACP, the GACP adds a global dimension to these initiatives.

2022

Farnborough 2022

What a great experience having the 6th Global Aerospace Cluster summit in the context of Farnborough Airshow 2022! After two years of virtual summits this felt like coming home to a group of friends.

In the beautiful Wax Chandlers‘ hall this year's input was given by Niklas Schilling who talked about “Elements in a regional aerospace cluster strategy” highlighting Hamburg Aviation as an example. Afterwards the group was split into smaller working groups, where the participants could discuss the topic of regional cluster strategies amongst themselves. With Clusters from Asia, Europe and the Americas present, the discussions were lively and spilled well into the Coffee breaks.

This year the focus was also on the partnership between the different aerospace clusters around the world. While the GAC summit has continued to strive and develop since its establishment in 2017, the wish for a more frequent exchange had emerged. Therefore, a discussion on the idea of creating a Global Aerospace Cluster Partnership (GACP) also took place. Part of the outcome of these discussions will be announced during the summit in at Le Bourget 2023. We are looking forward to see everyone again next year!

2020

Virtual 2020

During the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent cancellation of this year’s Farnborough International Airshow, the EACP organised its 4th GAC summit. In light of a global aerospace crisis, the first ever virtual GAC summit brought together more than 45 clusters and more than 60 cluster managers from all over the world in a two day event.

This year’s GAC Summit was split into two different sessions, focussing on the 27th October on regional and national clusters from the eastern part of the world, while on the 28th October the focus lied on clusters from the western part of the world. In between these two parts of the world lies Europe and the EACP, which tried to build a bridge between the East and West through two open sessions, accessible to all the registered cluster managers.

During the event, several clusters had the opportunity to share with the participants their perspectives on the current status of the industry and future outlooks. Besides the EACP presentation moderated by the organizer Francine Schulz several other clusters had the opportunity to share their knowledge and lessons learned with the plenum.

The second part of each session was dedicated to networking and a more informal exchange. The participants were split into two break-out sessions moderated respectively by Thilo Schönfeld from Aerospace Valley & Gennaro Russo from DAC (Campania Aerospace District) on the first day and Gordon Smith from NWAA (Northwest Aerospace Alliance) & John Whalley from Aerospace Wales on the second day.

The opportunity to informally exchange on the common struggles and future perspectives for the aerospace industry once more showed the importance of a constant flow of communication between the clusters.

This year’s virtual Global Aerospace Cluster summit was very well received by the participants and there was a high level of support by the speakers as well as by the industry. We look forward to hosting the 5th GAC Summit in Paris next year and look forward to your participation, hopefully being able to see each other in person again.

3rd Global Aerospace Cluster Summit

Paris 2019

More than 60 cluster managers from 23 countries gathered at the Paris Air Show at the Québec Representative Office in Paris, including representatives from Mexico, Japan, USA, Singapore, and South Africa. The Global Aerospace Cluster Summit aims to exchange between the cluster organisation in terms of industrial development and political changes.

Francine, coordinator of EACP, moderated this year’s summit and welcomed Julien Cormier, Ministry of Economy Québec, who was host to this year’s summit and welcomed the audience. Axel Krein, Executive Director of the Clean Sky project, held a keynote in which he addressed on the strategic direction of the EU research program, which is being redesigned for the years 2021-2027. The focus is on new technologies designed to make aviation more environmentally friendly and emission-free. Martin Dvorsky, Managing Director of Czech SME MGM Compro, highlighted the importance of EACP to his company in strengthening its global market visibility. Gennaro Russo, cluster manager from Campagna, presented the cross-project EuroSME, Thilo Schönfeld / Aerospace Valley gave an insight into the Horizon2020 funded project RADIAN. Mélanie Lussier of the Canadian aviation cluster Aéro Montréal emphasized in her contribution to the Summit program that the Paris Air Show had provided the perfect setting for the meeting of the worldwide cluster organizations.

The cluster representatives discussed them in eight different groups about the current challenges of the aviation sector. The first topics which was discussed was “What do you see as the main challenge for the future of your organization?”, Second questions was “Digitalisation in Aerospace – what actions is your cluster successfully doing for your members?”. In a second step, each group had the chance to present the main important facts to the audience.

The Global Aerospace Cluster Summit was very well received by the participants and there was a high level of support by the speakers as well as by the industry. We look forward to hosting the 4th Global Aerospace Cluster Summit in Farnborough next year and look forward to your participation.

Pre-Global Aerospace Cluster Summit

Toulouse 2018

Global Aerospace Managers and EACP Members met at Aeromart Toulouse for the GAC-Pre Event to dicuss the upcoming 2019 Global Aerospace Cluster Summit.

Several EACP members met at Aeromart Toulouse where working group meetings took place as well as four new international clusters spiked potential interest in the EACP. During the afternoon on Tuesday, December 4th, eight EACP members and seven global cluster managers met at Hotel Mercure for the GAC-Pre Event to discuss and plan for the upcoming Global Aerospace Cluster Summit 2019.

EACP Coordinator Francine Schulz began the afternoon with a warm welcome followed by a brief introduction from each manager then recapped the GAC18 by explaining the objectives and purpose of the GAC meetings. Following the introduction and recap, the international group launched into discussions and debate on the upcoming GAC19. Firstly, the location and date of the GAC19 were confirmed: Paris Le Bourget Airshow in Paris city center on the morning of the 21st July 2019.

Furthermore, the managers were divided into two groups where the first group consisted of participants from Poland, Canada, Italy, Turkey and the U.K. Their discussion topics revolved around the keynote speakers, cluster matching, improving relations between clusters, consolidation (boosting competiveness SME collaboration), and promotion by inviting other global clusters to upcoming events. The second group consisted of managers from France, Germany, Italy, USA, Japan, and Singapore and their discussion topics were about a GAC reception at air shows, how to do business in Asia, gathering international cluster managers together, and a potential, future GAC meeting in Asia (perhaps during the Singapore Airshow).

Everyone during the GAC-Pre Event brought great ideas to the table, which lead to thoughtful and meaningful discussions for the upcoming Global Aerospace Cluster Summit during the Paris Air show this summer. We look forward to seeing many familiar and new faces at the GAC19!

Save the date in your calendar 21st of June and be on the look-out in the upcoming weeks for the Eventbrite GAC19 Invitation.

2nd Global Aerospace Cluster Summit

London, 2018

In the course of the Farnborough Air Show, the European Aerospace Cluster Partnership organized the 2nd Global Aerospace Cluster Summit. In London, there were 40+ cluster managers present from around the globe from 18 different countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Malaysia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The overall objective was to further develop the linkage between the global aerospace regions to allow more efficient and faster communication paths. By doing so, a construct of multilateral cooperation is aimed for in the form of a global network, stepping away from the current bilateral cooperation.

The GAC was held in Wax Chandlers Hall in downtown London and the agenda was packed with keynote speakers, group discussions, and a plenary session.

The morning began with the presentations from Rolls-Royce on Innovation in Regional Clusters for a Global Market; the European Commission on Perspectives of European Commission on International Cooperation in Aerospace, and Boeingon Business Environment and Supply Chain: What Will the Future Bring.

Following the presentations from the speakers, the cluster managers broke into small groups to discussion the topics of: How to cooperate internationally on a cluster management & on a members level and How do you support your companies to push innovation?

After both group discussions, the group moderators summarized the groups’ points during a plenary session.

The Global Aerospace Cluster Summit was very well received by the participants and there was high level support in the form of speakers and from the industry and the European Commission.

1st Global Aerospace Cluster Summit

Paris, 2017

During the 52nd Paris Air Show, the EACP-ABROAD project organized the first Global Aerospace Cluster Manager Meeting.

On the 23rd June 2017, 60 international cluster representatives gathered in downtown Paris after a busy week of business meetings to discuss global cluster structures and the idea of building up a global network of aerospace clusters. Industry representatives from 20 countries were present to share their expectations on international collaboration. Participating countries are Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, and United States of America.

During the morning, high-level key note speakers shared their views on the aerospace supply chain, research initiatives and funding systems and the engagement of cluster organizations.

• Rolf HENKE, ACARE, Chairman and DLR, Executive Board Member
• Fassi KAFYEKE, Senior Director Strategic Technology and Innovation, Bombardier Aerospace
• Mark WALKER, Vice President Procurement Strategy and Governance, Airbus SAS
• Christophe GUICHARD, Clusters, Social Economy and Entrepreneurship, Unit DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, European Commission
• Marc PATTINSON, General Manager, inno TSD

They welcomed the idea and motivation of EACP members to expand the activities of this European network at international level.

During the second part of the event, working groups were set up to take the opportunity to share good practices between so many different organizations. Despite having the same goal to support and catalyze the development of the local aerospace industry, all of these organizations have different operating modes which processes could be helpful to share.

Participants expressed their interest in i.a. interchanging the needs of training for upcoming labor, the EACP supporting the establishment of meta clusters on other continents or creating a global cluster communication network through a project. Hence, the keystone was settled for further activities and the event was conclude on the participant’s willingness to repeat this kind of event in the future.

The EACP ABROAD project belongs to the "Clusters Go International" COSME call and is financed by the European Commission DG GROW.