21 September 2020

On September 21 Sweden Emirati Innovation day finally kicked off. The event was supposed to be held in April this year, but the ongoing pandemic has put a crimp in the organisation. After postponed and changed plans, the participants could now meet online.

Participants at Sweden Emirati Innovation Day
Around 50 participants met at the Sweden Emirati Innovation day,  15 of them were in a lecture hall at campus Norrköping.
Together with the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, the Swedish Civil Aviation Authority (LFV) and SAAB, LiU has three ongoing projects that in various ways aim to develop the air traffic of the future funded by VINNOVA. Researchers from the Department of Science and Technology (ITN) participate with knowledge in both transport and visualization. LFV is responsible for the operational application in air traffic control, drone services and airspace design.

The Innovation Day was an opportunity for all partners to meet digitally and get an overall overview of how the research collaboration continues.

Subproject 1 deals with traffic management for drone traffic with a focus on drones for passenger flights and delivery services.

In Subproject 2, researchers work with flow planning for air traffic. Dubai is a complex area with two nearby major airports and a good complement to the Swedish nearby airports Arlanda and Bromma when it comes to creating more efficient algorithms and solutions.

Advanced operator and decision support with sensors and AI is being developed in Subproject 3, where, among other things, AI-based algorithms are being developed to interpret air traffic controllers' workload and fatigue.

Many prominent guests were present during the innovation day, including Sweden's ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and the United Arab Emirates' deputy ambassador to Sweden, as well as the vice-chancellor of the University of Sharjah and LiU's deputy vice-chancellor for collaboration. In addition to updates on the research situation, the guests witnessed the signing of an agreement for continued collaboration between LiU, LFV and the University of Sharjah.

VINNOVA has financed the extension of the projects for 2021 due to the corona pandemic which has slowed down operations in 2020.

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