REPRESENTATIONS IN OUR REGIONS

ROCHEFORT

Spotlight on Hack4SCAIRA

In phase with the region’s development momentum, let’s look back at a flagship event for students and young entrepreneurs with innovative ideas which took place on March 14th and 15th: the Hack4SCAIRA hackathon within the framework of the SCAIRA-Interreg SUDOE.

This hackathon was promoted and hosted by SCAIRA program partners, simultaneously in France, Portugal and in Spain, with the main objective of locating future or young entrepreneurs to enable them to join the six month European acceleration program.

The hackathon was overseen by the Communauté d’Agglomération Rochefort Océan which has worked through this project to bring together the industrial, academic and entrepreneurial worlds. Students from Lycée Marcel Dassault, Lycée Merleau Ponty, the CESI and Elisa Aerospace Nouvelle-Aquitaine took part in the hackathon. Participants had 24 hours to meet the challenges launched by the industrial firms, Renault and Airbus Atlantic with creativity and innovation. This transnational hackathon involved 100 participants from Rochefort, Toulouse, Coimbra in Portugal and Murcia, Valladolid and Badajoz in Spain.

BAYONNE

Spotlight on the inauguration of the Turbolab platform

News from the Bayonne office was marked by the inauguration of the Turbolab on October, 25 2024, a shared Industry/Research/Education test platform dedicated to innovative aeronautics propulsion, whether hybrid, electric, or using alternative fuels.

This platform is the result of a collaboration between AKIRA Technologies, la Communauté d'Agglomération Pays Basque and ESTIA and is positioned as a laboratory serving industrial companies in the aeronautics sector for testing and characterization of innovative propulsion systems.

Aerospace Valley was involved in developing this platform right from the start from contributing to the creation of the consortium through fostering networking between members in its ecosystem to the platform launch.

BORDEAUX

Focus on mobilizing the aeronautics sector for decarbonization of air transport

Presentation of the aeronautics decarbonization roadmap at the Mérignac Cockpit (May 16th, 2024):
 Aerospace Valley and GIFAS, in partnership with Airbus, ATR, Dassault, Liebherr, Thales and Safran, informed the Aerospace Valley community about the challenges to be met, notably technological issues, target programs, and French and European aeronautics sector schedules, among other issues.

It was an invaluable opportunity for Cluster members to understand the stakes involved in decarbonizing aeronautics, learn about technological advances, meet sector experts and talk with other sector stakeholders. 
 

Focus on MEET-UP (25 March 2025 - Université de Bordeaux) « European fire-fighting aircraft to fight tomorrow’s fires »

This meet-up took place at the Aerial Fire Fighting Congress (La Cité in Bordeaux on March 26th and 27th, 2025). On the occasion of this event, Aerospace Valley, in partnership with Nîmes Métropole and Airbus, proposed to discuss the evolution of forest fires in the context of climate change, and how new aircraft can meet these challenges. It was an enriching event with many meetings and exchanges.

MONTPELLIER

Focus on hub.46

Aerospace Valley is one of the founders of huB46, along with the la Direction Générale de la Sécurité Civile, the Occitanie region, the Gard department, Nîmes métropole and l’Union pour la Méditerranée.

The purpose of huB.46 is to contribute to the expansion of civil security expertise by fostering the development of skills, knowledge and innovations for the management of risks, crises and catastrophes.

As part of this initiative, Aerospace Valley launched and ran the Nîmes Métropole huB.46 accelerator, the aim of which is to help companies gain access to crisis and catastrophe management markets. An acceleration program was set up and 3 companies were accelerated. Two events took place in December 2024 (on aerial fire-fighting, an area of expertise in which the French excel) in B.46., the building associated with huB.46 located next to the Garons civil security base. Other events were organized as part of the huB.46 accelerator during the Aerial Fire Fighting in Bordeaux in March, 2024.

Focus on space biology

In Montpellier, Aerospace Valley is working on developing a collective on the issue of space biology with researchers from the IFREMER, INRAE, CNRS and the Pharmacy university. The aim of this project is to provide visibility to these researchers who are all working in the field of space biology: fish hatchery for space missions, studying the resistance mechanisms of plants in space to assess how plants adapt to climate change, or studying the adaptation phenomena of human cells to develop new anti-cancer treatments. The purpose of this group is to bring together new academic and industrial actors and to enter fully into MedVallée of the la Métropole de Montpellier.