The 2024 Royal Aeronautical Society China Representative Office Annual Meeting was successfully held in Shanghai
Julian MacCormac, Honorary Chairman of the Royal Aeronautical Society China Office , delivered an opening speech on behalf of the Society. Julian first expressed a warm welcome to all the guests on behalf of the Society and reviewed the development history of the Society’s China Office. He emphasized that the Society is committed to promoting the popularization and exchange of aerospace technology worldwide. As China’s aviation industry takes a pivotal position in the global aviation industry, the Society’s representative office will carry out more industry exchange activities in China. He also mentioned that he personally visited the C909 and C919 assembly lines of COMAC before the annual meeting and was most impressed by the degree of automation and informatization of the production lines. He believes that the application of more information technology and automation technology will surely release more productivity.
Zhao Yuan, Deputy Director of the Expo Management Bureau of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Administration Committee, delivered a speech on behalf of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone and the Pudong Expo area. Zhao Yuan praised the achievements of the Society’s China Representative Office since it settled in the Qiantan International Economic Organization Cluster, which not only brought together top experts and scholars in the global aviation field, but also injected a steady stream of power into the prosperity and development of the aviation industry through academic exchanges, technical seminars and talent training. Zhao Yuan also invited elites and enterprises in the aviation industry chain to enter the Expo to jointly discuss the future development of the leading zone.
Mr. Shen Wenjia, the China representative of the Royal Aeronautical Society , made a work report on behalf of the society in 2024. Shen Wenjia used rich cases to show the guests the achievements of the society in 2024 and made a prospect for the future development of the society in China.
In the four years since its establishment, the China Representative Office of the Society has achieved a breakthrough from “zero to one” in many aspects of work. This includes that in 2023, the Royal Society of Chartered Engineers (CEng), Registered Engineers (IEng) and Fellows (Fellows) issued by the Royal Society of Engineering became one of the first six international institutions selected by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security for the comparison and recognition of overseas professional qualification certificates. In October this year, the Aerospace Engineering major of Ningbo University of Nottingham, a model of Sino-foreign joint education in China, was certified by the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Engineering Council of the United Kingdom, becoming the first university in China to obtain RAeS certification . At the same time, this major has become the only aviation program in China that has obtained ECUK certification .
The Royal Aeronautical Society China Members Annual Meeting is one of the important supporting activities of Pudong Shipping Week 2024. Dr. Wu Zhongqing, Deputy Director of the Shipping Development Promotion Center of the Pudong New Area Commerce Commission, gave a detailed and in-depth introduction to the Pudong New Area shipping planning scheme and key projects, and interpreted the Pudong shipping talent introduction policy for domestic and foreign experts present.
Looking back at the history of the society, the Fellows have always been the backbone of the society and have grown and developed together with the society. The moderator of this roundtable discussion was Li Dongsheng, Chief Designer of Composite Materials of COMAC and Standing Committee Member of the Science and Technology Committee . The guests participating in the discussion included Kang Yuanli , Deputy Chief Designer of COMAC North Research Center, Gu Yongkang , President of GKN Aerospace China , Christian Soomarchun , Senior Expert of System Engineering and Aircraft Engine Integration Department of AVIC , and Giampaolo Buticchi, Dean of the School of Science and Technology of Nottingham University Ningbo . The experts discussed the latest progress, challenges and opportunities of aviation technology from different perspectives.
Specific viewpoints include the use of more new concepts such as electricity, electric actuation, multi-electric technology, and energy management to upgrade traditional hydraulic and mechanical actuation, save energy, and achieve the goal of sustainable development.
Gu Yongkang, President of GKN Aerospace China, shared a specific case study on the supply chain and airworthiness certification of aircraft cables and wires. By improving supplier management capabilities and optimizing assembly production processes, he streamlined the process, which originally required traversing the globe and consuming a large amount of unnecessary energy, to achieve the end-to-end goal of energy conservation and emission reduction.
Christian Soomarchun from AVIC Engine Corporation of China introduced that the sustainable development considerations in the field of engine technology mainly revolve around continuously improving fuel economy to reduce carbon emissions, and shared the significant effect that sustainable aviation fuel can have on reducing carbon emissions in the aviation industry in the short term.
Giampaolo Buticchi, Dean of the School of Science and Technology at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, discussed more about the concept of talent cultivation from an educational perspective. In the foreseeable future, the aviation industry will face a shortage of talent. How to reasonably and on a large scale cultivate aviation talents while meeting industry requirements will be what aviation education needs to do in the future.
The experts concluded that the aviation industry has a long-term chance of achieving sustainable development goals. There is no one silver bullet solution, but a combination of approaches, including new materials, engine technology, agricultural solutions for sustainable aviation fuels, government incentives, and other measures such as operation and route optimization to reduce contrails.
Mr. Tao Shengyu, head of the Investment and Development Department of the Oriental Hub Group, introduced the Oriental Hub project in detail to the guests. The Oriental Hub project is a new benchmark project for Shanghai to build an international open gateway hub in the new era. In addition to the new Shanghai East Station adjacent to Shanghai Pudong International Airport, the project also includes the construction of the Oriental Hub International Cooperation Business District and core functional areas.
The Youth Committee has always been an important part of the Royal Aeronautical Society, alongside the major committees. Starting from 2024, the Youth Committee will be officially renamed from the Young Person Committee to the Next Generation Board. All members of the Youth Committee are young people under the age of 30. Leo Geng, head of the Youth Committee in China, summarized the work achievements in 2024 on behalf of the Youth Committee. The Youth Committee in China has gradually become a core member of the Global Youth Committee. In 2025, the Youth Committee will hold more industry events, including an industry exchange forum aimed at helping university graduates who are about to face employment to better find their career development direction. At the same time, in 2025, the Youth Committees in the UK, the Middle East and China will cooperate for the first time to represent Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region to jointly discuss the future development prospects and employment opportunities of the future air traffic (“low-altitude economy”) industry.
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AeroTube is an international aerospace science popularization competition hosted by the Royal Aeronautical Society of the United Kingdom. Since 2020, the competition has been transformed into an online video competition, providing a platform for young people from more than 70 countries and regions around the world to showcase themselves, learn from each other and communicate. It aims to stimulate young people’s interest in aerospace career and drive their enthusiasm for learning scientific knowledge through the form of science popularization video competition.
The 2024 International Aerospace Science Popularization Video Competition China Division attracted more than 30 schools and more than 300 contestants from 4 countries and regions. The youngest contestant was only 9 years old, and the age span of the contestants was nearly 25 years old. The number of submissions to this year’s China Division competition exceeded 100 videos; the total number of views of the participating videos on Bilibili exceeded 250,000.
At the annual meeting, the judges of this year’s competition’s Chinese region presented certificates and trophies to the top three winning contestants in the Chinese and English sections.
This year, the first prize winner of the English section of the Royal Aeronautical Society’s International Aerospace Science Video Competition Aerotube China 2024 China Division [Jiali Yan] represented her team and took the stage again to share her experience of participating in the competition.
At the annual dinner, Mr. Sohail Shaikh (Deputy HM Trade Commissioner for China), who attended as a special guest, delivered a speech at the dinner.
The Royal Aeronautical Society organized a group photo for the guests attending the conference
