Page 22 - European Energy Innovation - Summer 2016 publication

22 Summer 2016 European Energy Innovation

AVIATION

High Flyers: the Clean Sky Fairy Tale

By Eric Dautriat

Seven is a magic number in all
fairy tales. It is also a magic
number with regards to the
European Union and, in
particular, to Framework Programmes.
Clean Sky is no exception, and without
being exactly a fairy tale, it follows a
seven-year drumbeat. As Clean Sky 1
draws to a close and Clean Sky 2 starts
to grow, perhaps now is a good time
to look back over the past seven years
and reflect on our achievements so far.

Seven years ago, in 2009, the Clean Sky
JU was started. The concrete role of
this strange animal was all but clear. We
knew we would have to learn by doing,
and were happy to do so. A criticism
was floating around about Clean Sky
being a ‘closed club’ for the benefit of
big players only. There were big hopes
and great expectations, following all
the efforts from the founders to define a
far-reaching technological programme
with ambitious objectives, in particular
for CO2 reduction. A bridge was
being built over the Valley of Death of
innovation. The journey was starting.

Seven years later, the JU team has
overseen many achievements: almost
all the major Demonstrators defined
at the beginning have already been
run or are in the final phases before
testing. Very few have been given up
– a handful were replaced by others
of at least similar impact under the
programme executive body’s watchful
eye. A few of our key Demonstrators to
date include:

• The Tech 800 demonstration engine
(April 2013) – this demonstrates
technological advances for small-
and medium-sized helicopter
engines with savings of 15% fuel
burn.

• Advance Low Pressure System

www.europeanenergyinnovation.eu