Low fan-noise, automatic fibre-placement and helicopter rotor/fuselage wake-interaction technologies could be among research projects awarded up to C$2 million ($1.94 million) by a not-for-profit Quebec consortium.
From 16 June up to 20 proposals from industry will be evaluated by the Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Quebec (CRIAQ).
Through CRIAQ, which was created in 2002, the local government, industry and academia collaborate on projects lasting three or four years.
Following approval, Canada's National Research Council provides 50% of a project's cost, with industry providing 25% and CRIAQ the remaining 25%.
In previous years broad areas of interest have included health monitoring, composites, acoustics, manufacturing, product life cycle management and environment.
"We have new topics with the environment with proposals for fuel cells and novel fuels," says CRIAQ chief executive Andre Bazergui.
Bazergui is also hoping the fourth round will see one or two demonstrator projects, but they could cost up to C$10 million each.
The companies involved range from Bombardier Aerospace, Bell Helicopter and Pratt & Whitney Canada to small- and medium-sized enterprises.
While SMEs have access to other government support mechanisms, CRIAQ is encouraging SME technologies to be adopted by big business.
Previous projects have involved manufacturing composite bonded wingboxes, light alloy machining, the integration of real-time flight simulation and computational fluid dynamics and microsystems for in-situ health monitoring of aircraft.
Source: Flight International
