Singapore's aerospace aspirations fly high

When one speaks about commercial aviation in the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore immediately comes to mind for its reputation as a leading aerospace hub, home to one of the highest concentration of aerospace companies in Asia.

The Republic’s aerospace sector is thriving and has enjoyed steady growth of 8.6 per cent CAGR (compound annual growth rate) over the last 20 years. In 2014, the sector employed about 20-000 workers- 90 per cent of which were skilled jobs.

A*STAR supports Singapore’s vision to be a leading aviation hub through its activities in innovative research and development. The flagship initiative for this effort is A*STAR’s Aerospace Programme, a Research Consortium which focuses on pre-competitive aerospace research to develop next-generation solutions so as to address future challenges in the aerospace industry.

Launched in 2007, the consortium started with four founding members – Rolls-Royce- Boeing, Airbus (then EADS) and Pratt & Whitney – and that number has since grown to 15.

Local SMEs can gain much from consortium membership as it allows them to work with aviation giants and to benefit from the research outcomes and opportunities in being part of the supply chain.

The A*STAR Aerospace Programme leverages the wide spectrum of capabilities across A*STAR’s Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) research institutes, to meet the diverse needs of the consortium members. The programme has since undertaken over 100 multi-disciplinary projects to date.

Some examples of such projects include designs for harsh environments like high temperature packaging to meet the future needs of “more-electric aircraft”. Another example is coming up with smart sensors that enable continuous and on-line monitoring of oil in the engine- which would be more effective than the current off-line periodic checks.

To find out more about A*STAR's Aerospace Programme, please contact: aerospace@ihpc.a-star.edu.sg