Daher launches open innovation program, accelerates aviation decarbonization commitment

Daher (Nantes, France) is launching its Imagineering by Daher open innovation program. This new approach aims to stimulate the transformation of Daher’s activities and the decarbonization of the aeronautics sector through support of the startup ecosystem and the scale-up of production volumes by leveraging collective intelligence. The company points to its experience with the DaherLab project launched in 2014 — which already has facilitated the emergence of more than 100 manufacturing projects, the company contends.

The program is said to be an integral part of Daher’s new “Take off 2027” strategic plan (discussed further below), focusing the company’s actions on even greater cross-functional, multi-local innovation with the support and expertise of its three regional techcenters in France:

• Log’in: The Toulouse-based innovation acceleration platform for tomorrow’s logistics industry;
• Shap’in: Its center of excellence in Nantes dedicated to new-generation composite aerostructures; and
• Fly’in: A forward-looking development center in Tarbes for tomorrow’s general aviation industry.

For each of the Imagineering by Daher projects, a calculation of the financial and environmental impact will be systematically carried out and validated with stakeholders. Examples include projects already completed using the artificial intelligence (AI) solution developed by the startup Kipsum to reduce energy consumption in industrial buildings by 15-25%, and the recycling of glass wool scraps from the manufacture of aeronautical insulation blankets as the result of local circular economy solutions from Re-vert.

Also under the “Take off 2027” plan, unveiled at the start of 2023, Daher has confirmed its objectives to quadruple its research and development (R&D).

“The DaherLab allowed us to explore new technology and product use trends while running more than 100 projects during the past 10 years that tested potential solutions in real-world conditions,” Sébastien Leroy, the director of open innovation at Daher, says. “But in today’s fast-changing economic and ecological landscape, we need to set new industrial sector ambitions in responding earlier to emerging challenges, working collectively on restarting projects, and accelerating the industrial rollout of innovations by strengthening the links between Daher and its innovative ecosystems.”

Within this context, Imagineering by Daher is structured around five key imperatives: #explore, #connect, #test, #scale and #communicate:

• #Explore: Monitoring new and emerging trends in Daher’s own industry and beyond: The Imagineering by Daher team will identify emerging trends and analyze their potential impact on the aerospace industry by conducting studies and foresight surveys across a broad spectrum of sectors, including luxury goods, cosmetics, sports and automotive.
• #Connect: Creating more synergies between industry players: Encouraging and facilitating internal and external synergies and business collaborations are key goals of this new program. The creation of an Imagineers community open to all will be made possible by upscaling the open innovation team which, historically based in Paris, will now have a presence in all Daher regional techcenters and international operating sites.
• #Test: Growing together: Proof of concept comes with its own limitations. According to Daher, future collaboration must go beyond this stage to include prototyping, minimum viable product (MVP) programs, pilot projects, etc., depending on the degree of solution maturity and the ability of Daher and its market to incorporate them.
• #Scale: Accelerating rollouts: On successful completion of test phases, Imagineering by Daher will focus on accelerating the rollout of solutions through strategic alliances in the form of partnerships, venture capital injection or corporate venture building.
• #Communicate: Making careers more attractive: Imagineering by Daher will also work to make its industry sector more attractive to talented potential employees by highlighting the close links between innovation and manufacturing, as well as the large and rich diversity of career opportunities. It will implement an inspirational communications strategy with messaging that targets new generations by showcasing the fascinating projects and players at work in its ecosystems.

Gabriel Raffour, the Imagineering by Daher program manager, says, “Imagineering by Daher is a bold and powerful new tool that will allow us to explore new avenues, forge stronger links and substantially accelerate the testing and rollout of even more groundbreaking ideas.”  

Daher’s commitments don’t stop there. Also under the “Take off 2027” plan, unveiled at the start of 2023, Daher has confirmed its objectives to quadruple its research and development (R&D) investment with the goals of decarbonizing its business activities and those of its customers. This is not just the case for its aeronautics value chain — aircraft, manufacturing, manufacturing services and logistics businesses — but through Daher’s three innovation centers, Shap’In, Log’in and Fly’in.

Together, they are said to combine:

• The inherently long-term outlook of R&D, with its large-scale projects to design distinctively competitive solutions over a timescale from three to 10 years: hybridization, new-generation materials, production processes (robotization, cobotization, etc.) and digital transformation (supply chain 4.0, digital factory, etc.).
• The short-term of open innovation, which is based on expertise sharing and collaboration with our teams, customers and innovative ecosystems and players (academics, manufacturers, startups, SMEs, etc.) to accelerate the innovation process.

This 360-degree approach responds simultaneously to (1) the decarbonization challenges faced by customers, which is 90% of the group’s carbon footprint (lighter structures, new production processes, more eco-responsible logistics), (2) decarbonization of the group’s own activities and products (such as the development of EcoPulse, a demonstrator aircraft with hybrid-electric propulsion and reduction of emissions from Daher’s own operations and (3) Daher’s use of digitalization and intelligent management for its activities to reduce its environmental footprint (smart logistics management, digital twins and digitizing the collection, processing and analysis of data from its TBM turboprop-powered aircraft).

“We are participating in the fourth revolution in aeronautics; after the first flights, safety and the democratization of air transportation, our new frontier is decarbonization,” Didier Kayat, CEO of Daher, says. “Since Daher’s creation 160 years ago, the company always has supported key industrial developments with its customers. We continue to write this story by going further: it is as pioneers that we will be the first to offer a hybrid aircraft to the market.”