Emirates to build world's first Aviation X-Lab in Dubai

Will bring industry experts together to seek solutions to the future of transport

The Area 2071 space in Emirates Towers is intended to unify efforts in the government and public sectors to create advancements in technology, and achieve the UAE Centennial Vision for 2071, aimed at providing future UAE generations with a happier life in a better environment with more opportunities and world influence. Wam
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Emirates, together with a consortium of industry partners, says it is to build the world's first Experimental (X) Lab for the development of the next era of human transportation.

"The Aviation X-Lab is a historic effort to host airlines, manufacturers, ground logistics, regulators, engineers, academics, and startups under a single roof in order to envision a new transportation paradigm and seek solutions that no single organisation or programme has had the resources to deliver on their own," Emirates said in a statement.

The Aviation X-Lab at Area 2071 will from this year host industry summits to "co-create industry shaping challenges".

Applications will then be solicited from internal teams, independent engineering teams, academics, and startups, to help address these challenges by spending a full year working with senior industry executives and regulators to form new technologies and business theories, run experiments, and develop prototypes.

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Finalist teams from around the world will meet in Dubai each April for an annual event where they will pitch their concepts.

The winners of the pitch event will relocate to Dubai the following month along with their corporate and government counterparts to begin a rigorous curriculum co-created with the world’s top academic and innovation institutions.

“We look forward to the Aviation X-Lab initiative, which will enable Emirates to co-create high impact solutions with our industry partners that will propel the UAE’s aviation sector to new heights, and unlock the possibilities of an interconnected world,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and chief executive, Emirates airline and Group.

Area 2071 was launched by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to become the experimental nucleus of the Centennial Plan 2071.

Applications for the inaugural Aviation X-Lab will open in November with the first pitches to be presented to the public in April next year.