ABU DHABI — The fourth industrial revolution and advancements in technology within the aerospace sector will be analyzed and displayed through dedicated sessions and a new experience zone at Global Aerospace Summit 2018.

The Global Aerospace Summit will focus on the transformation taking place in the global manufacturing landscape, and what this means for the aerospace industry. A dedicated session will explore what is truly driving innovation, and how society and industry will be transformed. The session will also look at where digitalization can have the biggest impact in the aerospace sector, what fundamental changes need to happen in the way investments in technology are made and how can the aerospace industry effectively contribute to transformational social, economic and environmental change.

The experience zone will contain state of the art technology from a number of industry leading companies including Exechon, Vimana and Strata. There will be a Vimana blockchain drone on display, as well as Atlas aerospace simulator and Exechon’s XMini, the most advanced machine tool robot in the world.

For the first time ever, Facebook and Hyperloop One will also be participating at the Summit.

Harj Dhaliwal, Managing Director Middle East and India at Virgin Hyperloop One said: “At the 2018 Global Aerospace Summit, I am excited to share how Virgin Hyperloop One can help airports think differently about how they leverage their existing capital assets. Hyperloop can enable travel between two airports that are 50km away in the time it currently takes to travel between terminals, enabling future airports to operate as one mega airport. The radical speed and on-demand experience of hyperloop can enable new airport expansion strategies, help airports leverage existing facilities, and reduce new, intensive capital investments.”

Lockheed Martin’s Bob Howard, Chief Executive for Lockheed Martin in the UAE said: “Lockheed Martin is lending its expertise and making strategic investments in our partner countries to develop their technology and manufacturing capacity. I’m particularly proud of Lockheed Martin’s payload challenge here in the UAE, where we’ve partnered with Mubadala. This year-long competition with university students here to develop payloads for our unmanned aerial system, the Indago, is indicative of our investment in the youth. Those students that develop that technology then own that intellectual property. It’s striking that all of them, upon completion, have expressed the goal of going out and building businesses using these capabilities.”

Bernie Dunn, Boeing President for Middle East, North Africa and Turkey commented: “My team and I are most excited these days about developments in the areas of artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and machine learning. We’re involved with those three categories and activities in various locations across the region, including right here in the UAE ... It’s one of the most interesting and exciting developments taking place in the field right now. Boeing works in three areas. Number one, we provide the best products and services that the aerospace industry has to offer. Number two, we are involved in training and development of people, so that they can move into the workforce and be effective. Thirdly, we have many partnerships with our stakeholders. This partnership and commitment is what lasts and is very much appreciated by them.

“The Global Aerospace Summit is the largest such conference in the Middle East, and affords the best opportunity to talk about the developments we are seeing today. It also reflects our commitment to this region and our customers throughout. We are proud and honored to be participating in the Summit once again and to be leading some discussions on the challenges and opportunities we face throughout the region,” added Dunn.

The Global Aerospace Summit is an exclusive, invitation-only event for C-level executives, senior decision makers and government officials involved with the aerospace, aviation, defense and space industries. The 2018 edition, the fourth in this biennial series, will take place today (April 30) until May 2 at the St. Regis hotel on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi. — SG