Embraer has approved plans to invest in an Engineering Research Center (ERC) focused on “the future of air mobility.” Also investing in the center are Brazil’s Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (Technological Institute of Aeronautics/ITA) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo Research Foundation/FAPESP). The organizations say they are jointly planning to invest R$48 million ($10.1 million) in the project over the next five years.
“We are very excited with the approval of the Engineering Research Center focused on the future of air mobility, in partnership with ITA and FAPESP,” said Luís Carlos Affonso, Embraer senior vice president of engineering, technology, and strategy. “I am certain that the Center will be a benchmark of enterprise-government-academia cooperation toward the zero-carbon aviation of the future, generating value to society as a whole.”
ERC research activities are expected to focus on three pillars including low carbon aviation, autonomous systems and advanced manufacturing. According to Embraer, the center is aiming to create a “favorable environment for knowledge dissemination, highly qualified human resources training and production of high-impact scientific publications.” It was not announced when the ERC will officially begin work.
