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 2017 edition of the challenge. This is an exciting opportunity to promote the need for more diversity among the global population of innovators, 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. 

Not only do engineers play a vital role as members of the large multi-disciplinary teams that design, create and innovate to improve the lives of people everywhere. Diverse teams – in terms of gender, areas of study or individual profiles – have always been a hallmark of successful Airbus Fly Your Ideas’ teams.

"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 15 000 students in more than 100 countries for previous editions of Fly Your Ideas.