Airbus has opted for Madrid to open its fourth business accelerator campus

It will select projects to develop products and services related with the aerospace industry

Airbus has opted for Madrid to open its fourth business accelerator campus, which will be known as BizLabs. The other parts of this global network of commercial aerospace accelerators, which Airbus wishes to continue expanding in the future, is located in Toulouse (France), Hamburg (Germany) and Bangalore (India). Pedro Luzón, who comes from the company's operations area, will head BizLab in Madrid.

Madrid was chosen because Airbus's three business areas all have facilities in the Spanish capital: defense and aerospace, helicopters and commercial aviation. The company also sees the city as a strategic bridge between Europe and Latin America, as well as offering a flourishing ecosystem for new companies.

To mark the presentation of its new campus in Madrid, Airbus has launched a worldwide call for projects, which ends on June 24. The preselected projects will take part in a two-day workshop with experts from Airbus and the heads of the four campuses, who will choose the companies to be included in the fourth season of Airbus BizLab starting in October 2018.

Six months to support access to the market
The projects that are submitted can propose anything from the development of an existing product through to services or applications related with the aerospace industry. They can cover the areas of data analysis and artificial intelligence, digital design and manufacturing, autonomy and robotics, unmanned aerial vehicles and urban aerial mobility, electrification and connectivity, augmented and virtual reality, new space solutions, smart cities, blockchain and cybersecurity.

Airbus is particularly interested in companies able to propose innovative concepts and technical solutions that are in line with the UN's sustainable development goals. So far, BizLab has accelerated 50 startups and 40 internal projects, and has interacted with over one thousand startups.

BizLab supports the selected projects through a six-month acceleration program in which they are given access to coaches, experts and mentors in areas like technology, legal matters, finance, marketing and communication. This helps them in creating prototypes and in launching on the market.

According to Bruno Gutierres, head of Airbus BizLab: “Airbus BizLab is pioneering the corporate approach to accelerating the complex journey from idea to scalable business”. He adds: “With this fourth campus opening in Spain we are widening our horizons even further, and supporting the development of an innovative aeronautical ecosystem in Spain”.