The ICAO 2022 Innovation Competition is open to university students enrolled  in a final year of a Bachelor's programme or in a Master’s programme.  It is designed to spark innovative ideas and concepts for new solutions  or services supporting the five ICAO Strategic Objectives.

The  jury of this competition will feature the ICAO Secretary General, the  President of the Council and high-level representatives from the  aviation sector.

Over the past decades, international  civil aviation has overcome important challenges and demonstrated its  ability to withstand major shocks and disruptions. This was made  possible thanks to the commitment of aviation professionals across the  globe, who have developed and implemented processes and technical  solutions to enhance the resilience of the sector. However, in the  context of an ever-growing traffic forecast, the intrinsic capacity of  the aviation system is stretched, making any disruption to operations a  system-wide challenge. In addition, any measure to build and strengthen  resilience in aviation has to further support the ICAO Strategic  Objectives of Safety, Air Navigation Capacity and Efficiency, Security  & Facilitation, Economic Development of Air Transport and  Environmental Protection.

In  addition, the magnitude, duration, and global impact of the COVID-19  pandemic has profoundly affected air transport operations and the future  of such operations, putting people at the center of the response:  travellers and aviation professionals alike. A global consensus has  emerged on the pivotal role of aviation workers in finding and  implementing solutions for the conduct of aviation operations, at all  levels and across the aviation value chain.

With  this in mind, the resilient future of international civil aviation  cannot materialize without a workforce aware of the challenges faced by  the sector and ready to commit to imagining the aviation it wants. By  resilience, we mean the ability of the sector to ensure the continuity  of air mobility while progressing the five ICAO Strategic Objectives and  contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As part of  this global competition, we invite students to propose innovative  solutions with the aim:

-to create a more resilient aviation ecosystem for 2050;-to contribute to the emergence of innovative concepts, tools and approaches for new solutions or services supporting some or all of the five ICAO Strategic Objectives, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in particular SDG 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure: “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”; -to share their expectations and visions for the future, focussing on the emergence of disruptive ideas for the benefits of the overall aviation community.  

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