6

aerospace industry l institution l agencies

in being able to meet a potential customer directly at minimal expense in terms

of both time and money. The cluster aids

in this effort in several ways: by supporting participation in B2B events, by organising targeted missions, and by negotiating on behalf of individual member companies. B2B contracting exchange events are organised all around the

globe, making for a very efficient method of coming into direct contact with

the purchasing officers and decision makers of major aircraft manufacturers.

With the events lasting only two days,

the companies get to use their time efficiently and can discuss specific inquiries

and contract offers. MAC has decided to

focus on supporting these events in particular and also takes an active part in

them; we collect contacts and inquiries

and offer the abilities of our members to

specific customers. The aerospace industry is specific in its system of supplier

qualification. Most customers want to take at least a brief look at the company

and its production before further negotiations. MAC therefore tries to organise

so-called incoming missions where companies can present themselves directly

on their own premises. This also has the

added benefit of eliminating costs for

travel and so on. The cluster has already

organised a number of these missions

with delegations from countries such as

Italy, Canada, Brazil, Poland, etc. We have achieved great results by cooperating

with state institutions such as CzechInvest and CzechTrade, as well as embassies. These organisations are capable of

providing the necessary funds and organisational support these events require.

We are glad to report that the majority of

foreign participants in these missions have been very pleasantly surprised by the

quality of production and the technological advancement of Czech companies.

Working with embassies and foreign representatives of CzechInvest and CzechTrade, the cluster also organises targeted missions directly to customers. These

events are difficult in terms of organisation and it takes a great deal of time to arrange meetings with key individuals at

the selected companies. However, the

fact that a company is willing to invest time and money into a personal meeting

directly at the customer's facility helps negotiations progress much more quickly.

These targeted missions will be one of the

cluster's priorities for upcoming years.

When organising these missions (both foreign and incoming), the cluster also

draws on its membership of EACP (European Aerospace Cluster Partnership), a

collective of 45 European aerospace clusters. EACP represents a network of over

4,500 companies and 450 research organisations in the aerospace industry. The

partnership thus reaches almost every

company in Europe and organising missions becomes much easier through collaboration with individual clusters.

CONFERENCES

AND SEMINARS

special 2020

T+T Technika a trh

Through its activities and network of

contacts, MAC gains access to a great

deal of information about current trends

and developments in aviation. We try to

share this information with our

members and help them keep pace with

the competition. The hottest topics are

currently additive production, Industry

4.0, electrification, etc. We have organised or helped organise conferences and

meetings on these topics. Examples of

these are the conferences "Cooperation

of Aerospace Companies on the

3DEXPERIENCE Platform" and "Additive

Production in Aviation". As was mentioned before, the cluster organises an internal "Quality Working Group" which

creates a platform for quality managers

to exchange experience. The group deals with the implementation and sustainability of aerospace certifications such

as AS9100, NADCAP and OEM Approvals. Through this, we try to maintain a

standard of quality of development and

production across member companies

and work to increase their competitiveness.

CLUSTER PROJECTS

The cluster itself works on several international projects. These projects are generally focused on supporting cluster

members through internationalisation

and by working on innovative projects.

MAC is currently a partner in two such

projects, namely EACP-EUROSME and

PIMAP+. The former is a project initiated

by a consortium of 6 clusters from Italy

(Naples), Germany (Hamburg), France

(Toulouse), the UK (Preston) and the

Czech Republic (Zlín). The goal is to create at least 4 innovative projects worth a

total of at least EUR 20 million. The partners have created a long-term strategy

for interconnecting companies from these countries with regard to the RIS3 strategies used in individual regions. By analysing common trends and RIS3 strategies, the partners identified 4 strategic topics with potential for creating innovative projects. The topics are "Aircraft of

the Future", "Industry 4.0", "Earth Observation" and "UAV technologies". MAC

is responsible for the topic "Aircraft of

the Future". Analysis of the capabilities

of individual companies in these regions

and the subsequent interlinking of these

companies has helped find suitable topics for joint projects, such as "Development of certification-ready, fully electric/hybrid propulsion for aircraft" or

"Unmanned cargo aircraft". These activities make the work of innovative companies much easier, since we are able to

find and recommend specific partners

with exactly the right kind of technological know-how. The consortium also

helps companies with project planning

and preparation (creation of feasibility

studies or business plans) but also with

securing funding. Funds can come from

either public financing (Horizon 2020

programmes, in particular) or from private investors.

The latter project, PIMAP+, is also run by

6 partners, this time from France (Bordeaux), Sweden

(Falun), Portugal (Porto), Italy (Milan),

Finland (Joensuu) and the Czech Republic (Zlín). The project is focused on the

internationalisation of companies on

markets outside of Europe. 4 key countries were selected: Canada, the USA, Japan and China. The consortium is crossdisciplinary, i.e. does not consist of solely aerospace clusters. The project will

help find strategic partners in the key

countries, resulting in the conclusion of

an agreement on future cooperation on

specific projects. Emphasis is again placed on finding partners and customers

in the selected countries and applying