Preface of the 14th EASN International Conference on “Innovation in Aviation & Space Towards Sustainability Today & Tomorrow” (EASN 2024) ^†

1. Introduction

The 14th EASN International Conference on “Innovation in Aviation and Space towards sustainability today & tomorrow” was successfully held in the Concert Hall of Thessaloniki, Greece, from 8 to 11 October 2024.

The Conference has been co-organized by the EASN Association and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The event included 4 Keynote Speeches, 2 Discussion Panels and more than 420 presentations and discussion slots distributed in 70 sessions and workshops.

In addition, more than 50 Posters took part in our new Poster Section with a Best Poster Award in the Poster Competition. More than 100 Aviation & Space Projects disseminated their latest research results as well as the future trends in the respective technological fields. In total, 550 participants from 39 countries attended the 14th EASN International Conference.

Like its predecessors, the conference proved to be a major European dissemination event for research in Aviation & Space, providing a forum for EU funded project activities, where innovative ideas, breakthrough concepts, and disruptive technologies are presented and discussed, also with the aim of establishing new research partnerships and possible synergies. In addition, several European policy development projects found the floor to present future strategic priorities.

2. Keynote Speeches

The Keynote Speeches, given by distinguished personalities of the European Aviation & Space sector, have been among the highlights of the event. The conference delegates were updated on the future Industrial trends and the European priorities with respect to the medium and long-term goals. More specifically:

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Ms. Marylin Bastin, Acting Director of the European Green Sky Directorate (EGSD), presented the topic “Innovation and Clean Energy, the key to success for a sustainable aviation”;

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Prof. Udo Frese, German Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and the University of Bremen, gave a speech entitled: “AI-based robotics—a key technology for space applications”;

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Prof. Dimitris Lagoudas, Texas A&M University, Department of Aerospace Engineering, USA, made a presentation about “Adaptive Structures Concepts for Quiet Supersonic Civil Transport Vehicles”;

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Prof. Stefanos Fasoulas, the Managing Director of the Institute of Space Systems at the University of Stuttgart, gave a keynote speech on “Technologies of Very Low Altitude Satellites—Contribution to a Sustainable Space Utilization”.

3. Discussion Panels

In addition, two Discussion Panels took place, bringing together industry experts, researchers, and industry leaders. The discussions focused on fostering continuous development and driving innovation, with participants exchanging diverse perspectives and ideas. More specifically:

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Prof. Ola Isaksson, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, moderated the first discussion panel on the topic “Sustainability in air transport system” with the following panelists:

• Mr. Benoit Fonck, SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking, Chief Programme Officer;
• Mr. Axel Krein, Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking, Executive Director;
• Prof. Dimitri Mavris, Tech’s School of Aerospace Engineering, Boeing Chaired Professor of Advanced Aerospace Systems Analysis;
• Dr. Björn Nagel, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Director of the Institute of System Architectures in Aeronautics;
• Prof. Spiros Pantelakis, European Aerospace Science Network (EASN), Honorary Chairman, Professor Emeritus, University of Patras, Greece.

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Dr. Jean-Francois Brouckaert, Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking, moderated the second discussion panel entitled: “Alternative Propulsion” with the following panelists:

• Dr. Marcello Amato, CIRA Director of the Research Directorate;
• Prof. Uwe Hessler, Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG, Head of Research & Technology;
• Mr. Ondrej Kotaba, Honeywell International, Principal Scientist;
• Mr. Andrea Milli, General Electric Aerospace, Avio Aero and GE Aerospace Senior Technical Programme Manager for Clean Aviation;
• Prof. Andreas Strohmayer, European Aerospace Science Network (EASN), Chairman, Professor at the Institute of Aircraft Design, University of Stuttgart, Germany.

4. Clustered Project Sessions

Furthermore, significant conference highlights were:

The 7 Clustered Project Sessions organized with the support of CINEA—European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency with the participation of 27 running aviation-related projects on the critical topics:

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Fuelling the future: Hydrogen in aviation. From the production of H2 to the aircraft refuelling.

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State of the art for H2-air combustion & SOFC—Dynamic panel discussion.

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Hydrogen in aviation. Fuel-flexible ultra-Low emissions combustion systems for sustainable aviation, H2 combustion, SOFC.

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SAF. From the production to the aircraft refuelling.

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Local Air Quality and noise. Managing environmental impact of aviation around airports.

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Digitalization of Manufacturing, sustainable manufacturing, multifunctional structure and MRO.

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Liquid Hydrogen storage for aviation.

The stimulating discussions and productive exchanges between the projects and the audience proved once again the bottom-up approach of collaborative research, the strong interaction between projects through clusters and the need of such projects to feed higher TRL projects closer to the market.

The Clean Sky 2 and Clean Aviation showcases presented the achievements made so far and the ambitious concepts and roadmaps in achieving the mid- and long-term targets set in the program.

5. Presentations and Papers

It would be our omission not to make a special reference to the high quality of the presentations made and we are grateful to the authors and presenters. The present issue of open-access volume of Engineering Proceedings journal includes 114 papers based on presentations made during the 14th EASN International Conference. All papers have been subjected to peer review. The papers are classified in the following chapters:

• Flight Physics and Alternative Propulsion;
• Hybrid Electric and Electric Flight;
• Aircraft Design and Aerodynamic Analysis;
• Materials and Structures;
• Small Air Transport (SAT) Technologies and UAS and Scaled Flight Testing;
• Air Traffic Management and Airports and Human Factors;
• Space Technologies.

6. International Scientific Committee

Dr. Marcello Amato, CIRA, Italy

Prof. Pierre Arbez, Airbus Group, France

Prof. Emmanuel Benard, ISAE-SUPAERO, France

Mr. Christophe Bonnal, EUCASS Board

Dr. Marianna Braza, CNRS, France

Prof. Christian Breitsamter, Technical University of Munich, Germany

Dr. Wiebke Brinkmann, DFKI, Germany

Dr. Jean-François Brouckaert, Clean Aviation JU

Prof. Konstantinos Charitidis, National Technical University of Athens, Greece

Prof. Andrew Cook, University of Westminister, UK

Dr. Athanasios Dafnis, RWTH Aachen University, Germany

Mrs. Fabienne Daveran, Aerospace Valley, France

Prof. Paulo De Castro, University of Porto, Portugal

Prof. Gisela Detrell, TU München, Germany

Dr. Vittorio Di Vito, CIRA, Italy

Dr. Spiros Diplas, SINTEF, Norway

Prof. Angelos Filippatos, University of Patras, Greece

Prof. Konstantinos Gryllias, KU Leuven, Belgium

Prof. Liberata Guadagno, University of Salerno, Italy

Prof. Mario Guagliano, Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Mr. Antonio Hernandez Martin de Arriva, Airbus Group, Spain

Prof. Ola Isaksson, Chalmers University, Sweden

Prof. Elena Jasiuniene, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania

Prof. Ivo Jebacek, BRNO University of Technology, Czech Republic

Dr. Alexandra Karanika, Hellenic Aerospace Industry, Greece

Prof. Timoleon Kipouros, Cranfield University, United Kingdom

Prof. Marcello Kivel Mazuy, CIRA, Italy

Dr. Dietrich Knörzer, Former Senior Officer, Aviation Unit, DG Research & Innovation, European Commission

Mr. Andreas Koetter, Capgemini, Germany

Prof. Konstantinos Kontis, University of Glasgow, UK

Prof. Vassilis Kostopoulos, University of Patras, Greece

Dr. Kyriakos Kourousis, University of Limerick, Ireland

Mr. Volker Krajenski, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Germany

Prof. Thomas Kruse Strack, Airbus Group, Spain

Prof. Patrizia Lamberti, University of Salerno, Italy

Prof. George Lampeas, University of Patras, Greece

Prof. Ernesto Limiti, University of Roma "Tor Vergata", Italy

Prof. Dimitri Mavris, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

Mr. Jeronimo Medina Gonzalez, Airbus Group, Spain

Prof. Alain Merlen, Université de Lille, France

Prof. Peter Middendorf, University of Stuttgart, Germany

Mr. Torsten Moll, Sustainability Expert, Germany

Prof. Katarina Monkova, Technical University in Košice, Slovakia

Dr. Catalin Nae, National Institute of Aerospace Research “ELIE CARAFOLI”—INCAS, Romania

Dr. Björn Nagel, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Germany

Ms. Ligeia Paletti, German Aerospace Centre (DLR)

Mr. Demetrios Papacostas, Hellenic Aerospace Industry, Greece

Prof. Shia-Hui Peng, Chalmers University, Sweden

Prof. Javier Perez Castan, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain

Dr. Helge Pfeiffer, KU Leuven, Belgium

Dr. Jordi Pons Prats, Universidad Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain

Mr. Simone Pozzi, Deep Blue srl., Italy

Dr. Ricardo Reis, Embraer, Portugal

Dr. Álvaro Rodríguez Sanz, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain

Prof. Tomasz Rogalski, Rzeszow University of Technology, Poland

Prof. Francesco Salvato, Italian Association in Industrial Research (AIRI), Italy

Prof. George Savaidis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Prof. Ivica Smojver, University of Zagreb, Croatia

Prof. Cezary Szczepanski, Warsaw Institute of Aviation, Poland

Prof. Eija Tanskanen, Oulu University, Finland

Prof. Octavian Thor Pleter, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania

Prof. Konstantinos Tserpes, University of Patras, Greece

Prof. Vincenzo Tucci, University of Salerno, Italy

Dr. Angela Vozella, CIRA, Italy

Prof. Michael Weigand, Vienna University of Technology, Austria

Prof. Yavuz Yaman, Middle East Technical University, Turkey

Dr. Jie Zhao, University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom

7. Acknowledgements

The organizers would like to cordially thank all the participants of the 14th EASN International Conference. Many thanks are also due to the Keynote Speakers, Session Chairs, Authors and Presenters, the International Scientific Committee, and the Local Organizing Committee for making this Conference a big success. A big thank you also to Aerospace MDPI, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal of aeronautics and astronautics published monthly online by MDPI, for the invaluable support.

We are also grateful for the support of:

• CINEA—European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency;
• Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking;
• SESAR Joint Undertaking;
• Association of European Space Research Establishments (ESRE);
• Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft;
• Hellenic Aerospace Industry S.A. (EAB);
• Si-Cluster.

8. Next Conference

In response to the high interest of the European Aviation and Space Community for the EASN series of Conferences, EASN has announced its 15th EASN International Conference on “Innovation in Aviation & Space towards sustainability today and tomorrow”, which will be held in Madrid, Spain on 14–17 October 2025, and we are looking forward to welcoming all of you there.