The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) ­ is the only international organisation with a specific mandate for science and engineering. Sharing Airbus’ ambition to inspire young people about sustainable innovation and engineering, UNESCO granted patronage to Fly Your Ideas in 2012.

Building on that collaboration, we’re delighted to announce that UNESCO has renewed the partnership with Airbus Fly Your Ideas for the 2015 edition of this global student challenge. This is an exciting opportunity to promote the need for more diversity among the global population of engineers, to better reflect the communities we serve and attract talented young people from all profiles and backgrounds into the industry.

UNESCO’s in-depth report about future engineering capacity highlights an engineering skills gap that threatens industry and growth. Aviation is no exception. There are not enough aviation engineers currently graduating to meet industry needs and nearly half of them switch to other careers once they qualify.

"The diversity of these students’ ideas is an inspiration. They remind us of the need to train more engineers to develop the skills needed to put science into practice”, said Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, reflecting on the wealth of ideas submitted from over 11 000 students in 100 countries for previous editions of Fly Your Ideas.