Innovation in Aviation Engagement Capability

The CAA will overhaul its approach to innovation by setting up, for the first time, a transparent and focussed engagement platform to better enable innovators develop new products and services to come to market in the aviation sector. This will be delivered through improved access to regulatory advice and facilitation, to help regulation respond to fast-paced developments whilst maintaining aviation safety and consumer protection. Specifically, the project will deliver three new initiatives:

A gateway to encourage innovators with new ideas and proposals to come and talk to the CAA, who will provide fast feedback whilst also learning and building the CAA's own understanding of emerging innovations;
Enhanced collaboration capabilities to enable innovators navigating regulation and testing new products and services through controlled exemptions from regulations governing aviation with the long-term aim of moving away from case-by-case approvals for these operations; and
A means to tackle long-term, interdisciplinary challenges with the aim of developing road maps and blueprints to help make regulatory frameworks more responsive to innovation.
In Year 1 the project will deliver of the following:

Work with the Transport Systems Catapult to determine the next steps in the Drones Pathfinder;
Work with Nesta's Flying High initiative and comparable programmes as they emerge to progress towards testing, both simulations and real-world;
Develop a road map to understand how urban passenger air transport could be integrated into the UK (including leveraging existing work around Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) and electronic conspicuity) working with bodies such as the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI), the Drone Industry Action Group and key transport agencies such as Transport for London; and
Consider the increasing impact of automation, particularly artificial intelligence, on aviation by working with organisations such as the Aerospace Technology Institute who are able to accelerate the convening of like minded organisations to work with this new approach.