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Let’s make together a durable commitment to new horizons

Publication Date

28 January 2021

Engineers must take part in public debate and exercise their role as citizen-engineers

Our world is facing major technological, health and environmental challenges. Although they are diverse in nature, they all share one thing in common: their great complexity, which combines scientific and social dimensions.

It is the job of engineers to bridge the gap between science and society, using science to take concrete action in society. Their role is crucial in addressing the complexity of these challenges by proposing solutions that are ambitious, scientifically sound and socially acceptable. Engineers have a voice to be heard, yet they are all too rarely heard in public debate.

Higher education and research are major levers in the transition to a sustainable society. In recent years, our students’ awareness of climate issues has become very high, as shown by their growing participation in the dedicated training modules that we have set up over the last ten years. Their massive and unprecedented involvement encourages us to think even more deeply about our contribution to this transition.

A leading engineering school such as ours remains fundamentally attached to the notion of progress developed in the Age of Enlightenment. We believe that advances in science should enable humanity to gradually take control of its own destiny, provided it makes good use of them. And we are aware that we have a special role to play in this, by contributing through our research to the advancement of knowledge, and above all by training young engineers to make the best use of it. We are firmly committed to this.

The ecological transition is the major challenge facing the aeronautics sector

The history of aeronautics and space is that of a pioneering industry that has made one of mankind’s oldest dreams come true. Crossing the Atlantic in an aeroplane or sending a human being to the Moon: over the last century, aerospace engineers have repeatedly shown that they are capable of doing what many thought was impossible. They can help to do the same for the challenge of ecological transition.

They have already made a major contribution to the diagnosis of the situation: it was thanks to balloons and aeroplanes that the science of the atmosphere was first developed; more recently, it is thanks to the observation satellites put into orbit over the last few decades that it has been possible, for the first time in human history, to measure the state of the atmosphere and the oceans over the entire surface of the globe. Without this, it would have been impossible to understand the phenomena and validate the scientific models of global warming. Now they have to work hard to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero, starting in their own field, which is not the easiest.

In barely 100 years, aeronautical engineers have invented, made safe and democratised air transport. We are no longer surprised by this, but isn’t it extraordinary that today it is faster, more comfortable, safer and cheaper to take the plane than the car or the train, when you want to cover distances of more than 1,000 km? The energy efficiency of air transport has made equally impressive progress. But that’s not enough. Having invented, secured and democratised air transport, we now need to decarbonise it. This is a new issue, a new challenge, just as ambitious as the previous ones: we need to invent new aircraft, using all the technological resources and creativity of our engineers.

The technological avenues have been identified: energy sources, materials, structure, aerodynamics, engines, etc. There is a considerable amount of work to be done to bring all these technologies to maturity and bring them up to the level of reliability and safety required for air transport. This is the job of a new generation of engineers, who will have to invent new aircraft that are carbon-free and as reliable and competitive as ever, based on the latest scientific advances: it’s a fabulous challenge for the decades to come.

ISAE-SUPAERO is making a long-term commitment today

The training model of France’s leading engineering schools combines high scientific standards, a broad multidisciplinary approach and a commitment to business and society. Our students are destined to become key players in the ecological transition.
The pioneering spirit and potential for innovation that are in the DNA of aeronautical engineers, and in particular those at ISAE-SUPAERO, encourage us to go even further.

Over the past year, we have mobilised a number of working groups, students, teaching and research staff, industrial partners and governance bodies to examine in greater depth and reformulate our strategic commitment to sustainable development. Together, we have faced up to this formidable challenge, and we are convinced that it also represents a tremendous opportunity for our students. We are convinced that it is possible to transform the aerospace sector over the coming decades to make it a major component of a sustainable society. Space will play an increasingly important role in monitoring the state of our planet, and air transport can be decarbonised, so that it can continue to meet the long-distance transport needs of future generations without impacting on the climate.

We have a duty to commit to this without delay:

To play our role within the aerospace sector, by assuming our responsibility to prepare for the future and anticipate the necessary transformations;
To meet the expectations of our current and future students and employees;
To remain true to our history and our motto “excellence with a passion”, by training engineers who will be at the forefront of the transformation of the aerospace sector.

We have therefore made a commitment to mobilise our teaching skills and scientific expertise to help build the aeronautical and space components of a sustainable society, and in particular to invent the low-carbon air transport of the future. We are implementing this commitment through a renewed Sustainable Development strategy: HORIZONS.

The aim of this approach is threefold:

To make the Institute a committed player in the sustainability of aeronautical mobility and the space sector, by training the engineers and managers who will take up this challenge, and by directing our research and innovation activities in this direction;
Giving our future graduates the keys to contributing to the public debate on the energy transition and a sustainable society, by drawing on the scientific approach and their ability to master complex systems;
Continue to reduce the carbon footprint of our activities and our campus.

Since 1909, ISAE-SUPAERO has been training systems engineers, with a global approach, who contribute, through their excellence, to the emergence of solutions, capable of solving major problems and making a positive commitment to the future of society. We train critical thinkers who are aware of changes in the world and of the fact that science and technology are at the heart of major societal issues.

The aeronautics industry is undergoing constant change, and today it needs to rethink, transform and reinvent itself. It will need new visions, different and emerging skills. ISAE-SUPAERO has a role to play in this adventure by preparing our graduates to transform and reinvent the aeronautics and space sector of the future and to invest in major pioneering projects as they have done since the beginning of the 20th century, and by contributing to research in this area.

The deployment of this strategy should also be an opportunity to unite our community around an ambitious collective project that is vital for the future. Together, we can make a lasting commitment to new horizons!

Olivier Lesbre
President of ISAE-SUPAERO (2014-2024)

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