A renewed collaborative agreement with The Boeing Company (Boeing) and the opening of advanced facilities are set to enhance the leadership role of PolyU’s Aviation Service Research Centre (ASRC) in aerospace innovation.
PolyU’s ever-strengthening link with industry is one of its key success factors, and nowhere more so than in aerospace engineering. That was in strong evidence on 26 September 2017, when the ASRC extended its collaboration with Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company and leading manufacturer of commercial jetliners, for another five years.
Prof. Timothy W.Tong, PolyU President (front row left), and Ms Elisabeth Martin,Vice President, Boeing Research & Technology – China, The Boeing Company (front rowright), sign an agreement to renew collaboration for another five years.
Prof. Timothy W. Tong, PolyU President, said that the extended collaboration would drive the ASRC to continue “looking for innovations and improving our technical capability”. He was also certain that the Centre would “continue to conduct high-end research and deliver valuable technologies to serve the needs of the industry”.
There will certainly be many opportunities to translate research innovation into practical use in the industry, with global management consultancy Oliver Wyman forecasting a 92% increase in spending on aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services in the Asia-Pacific region over the next 10 years, and an even more impressive 162% increase in China. According to Boeing, aircraft fleet sizes in the Asia-Pacific are also expected to grow by 156% over the next 20 years.
Expressing his delight at the extended collaboration, Mr Chan Tze-ching, PolyU Council Chairman, remarked that “in 2012, we were privileged to partner up with Boeing to co-found the ASRC. Immense support was received from the government and industry partners, including HAECO and HAESL, and two research projects were immediately rolled out to address the pressing needs of the MRO industry”. Now, he said, “the partnership between PolyU and Boeing has been so successful that it has become a showcase of research and innovation collaboration between academia and industry”.
Mr Dennis Floyd, Boeing Global Services’ Vice President for Strategy, commented that the ASRC would “continue to lead the way in aerospace innovation”. He explained that Boeing could trace its cooperation with China’s aviation industry back a century, and that PolyU researchers working in the newly opened ASRC facilities in Block X on campus would “be at the forefront of aerospace transformation for the second century”.
