The aerospace and defence sector is undergoing a profound transformation driven by the transition towards Industry 5.0, where performance, resilience and sustainability must go hand in hand. Beyond digitalisation, this transition places humans, the environment and societal impact at the heart of industrial strategies. The integration of advanced digital technologies, such as data-driven manufacturing, automation and artificial intelligence, is essential to improve competitiveness, traceability and quality, while reducing costs and time-to-market. At the same time, the sector faces strong environmental pressures to decarbonise production, optimise resource use and develop circular economy approaches. In this context, European SMEs play a critical role: they are key contributors to innovation, flexibility and technological adoption, and act as essential links within complex and highly regulated value chains.
It is within this context that the pitch session dedicated to the Aerospace and Defence is organised as part of the European project BRIDGESMEs. The objective of BRIDGESMEs is to support SMEs in their transition towards Industry 5.0 by strengthening their capacity to adopt digital, sustainable and human-centric solutions, while facilitating concrete alliances between manufacturing SMEs and solution providers across strategic industrial value chains.
This pitch session is designed to directly address the current challenges faced by the Aerospace and Defence sector by fostering concrete collaborations between manufacturing SMEs and solution providers. We invite tech-savvy SMEs to showcase innovative, mature or emerging solutions aligned with Industry 5.0 priorities in front of the manufacturing pilot SMEs involved in the BRIDGESMEs programme. The proposed solutions and needs shall fall within the following thematic areas:
- the use of XR technologies in industry (for maintenance, workforce training, quality control and remote assistance);
- the integration of artificial intelligence (notably for predictive maintenance and quality inspection);
- circular economy and environmental transition approaches, such as battery reuse, life-cycle optimisation and the adoption of more sustainable materials.
Tech-savvy SMEs from other sectors (such as electronics, mobility and automotive, tourism and creative and cultural industry) whose solutions are applicable to these challenges and who wish to expand into the ASD sectors are also invited to present their solutions.
This session aims to catalyse impactful partnerships and accelerate the deployment of innovative solutions across the 5 sectors of the programme. After the session, a questionnaire will be sent to the participants to organise B2B meetings, facilitated by the Aerospace Valley team.
