Boeing, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), conducted the finals for the fifth annual Boeing-IIT national aeromodelling competition, which saw participation from 1281 students from over 250 institutes nationwide.
The competition saw many “firsts” in its five year history, including participation from an international team from Iowa State University (USA), as well as a significant increase in the participation from schools and female aero-models.
As an aerospace leader, Boeing has been investing in educating and inspiring the next generation of engineering talent in India. The aero-modelling competition aims to nurture, recognize and reward talented aerospace enthusiasts and innovators in the country.
“Competitive aero-modelling requires multi-disciplinary skills, which is a great way to draw young minds to aerospace,” said Pratyush Kumar, president, Boeing India, adding “through this competition, we want to inspire students to experience the joy of aviation and strive to become future aerospace engineers. We are excited to see the tremendous response that the competition has attracted in the last five years”.
Prof P.V.M. Rao, head, department of design, IIT Delhi, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with the Boeing in developing an ecosystem from students from all engineering disciplines, so that they can channelise their creative energy into reimagining avionics of the future.”
Boeing is actively engaging with academia and industry to inspire innovation.
This evolved partnership has resulted in establishment of two research centres—Aerospace Network Research Consortium (ANRC) in Bangalore and National Centre for Aerospace Innovation and Research (NCAIR) in Mumbai.
NCAIR has spurred technology entrepreneurship in aerospace manufacturing for the industry and encouraged start-up culture in the country.