The Business of Innovation: Reflecting on 2024 and Looking Ahead to 2025
As 2024 comes to a close, it's a great time to pause and reflect on the achievements we've made as a team. For our organization, this year brought both significant highs and periods of transformation. Throughout it all, we’ve made remarkable strides, particularly in advancing AI and automation for the benefit of Airbus and the aerospace industry at large. The six months I’ve been in this role feel both short and long and I’m eager for 2025 to kick off as we explore new areas where we can go big and make a meaningful impact.
Transformation and Strategic Focus
At the start of the year, Acubed embarked on a transformative journey with our leadership team to clarify and refine our mission. This exercise helped us hone in on what we do best and sharpen our focus on accelerating AI and automation. Out of that effort saw the formation of Acubed’s Ambassador Program as well as a sharpening of the processes that define our innovation funnel (more on that later).
Leadership Transitions
My role - CEO of Acubed - which I took on in July, is coupled with a dual role of leading Airbus’ North American R&T organization. By merging these two groups into a unified team, we are combining Acubed and Airbus R&T members to lead business development, partnerships, ecosystem building, and scouting, combining and managing the overall portfolio and innovation processes under the leadership of our Chief Development Officer. I look forward to seeing this team drive impact through a coordinated approach to partnerships, stakeholder engagement, and initiatives in North America and Europe, elevating our collective research contributions in the region and enhancing the overall presence and influence of Airbus in North America.
Technical Milestones and Innovation
A major highlight of 2024 has been the successful progression of our technical projects. Key milestones include:
- We achieved sign-off on a new technological readiness level for its vision-based landing technology. This sign off marks a massive achievement; it’s a critical step toward productization, with ongoing efforts to expand the data sets and prototype the necessary infrastructure for large-scale data aggregation. This positions us as industry leaders developing safety-critical automation solutions.
- This year, our AI and automation initiatives in digital design saw great success. The team focused on completing projects such as Advanced Visual Intelligence for Assembly (known as AVIA), which will continue to drive innovation in computer vision applications to better assess and improve processes, quality and safety in commercial aircraft production. These developments will be tested more rigorously in 2025.
- The Uncrewed Traffic Management (UTM) team made significant progress with simulation and digital platform capabilities. Our tool, uSIM, has been successfully adopted by Eurocontrol, helping shape the future of air traffic management in Europe. Furthermore, our team continues to influence global standards and regulations, working closely with authorities like the FAA, EASA, and ASTM. Though the global Airbus program will officially end at the close of this year, its legacy continues through ongoing efforts in 2025. The team’s talent remains invaluable at Acubed, and we are actively working on transitioning key activities into new areas of focus.
- 2024 marked the official launch of our Connected Airsights initiative. This exciting new program is focused on delivering data analytics and recommendation engines to benefit airline operations. We're already collaborating with three early adopter airlines and expect even greater developments in 2025 as the program gains momentum.
This year, we also made substantial progress in streamlining our innovation processes. The innovation funnel we put in place is now embedded in our operational model, ensuring that new ideas are carefully vetted and aligned with our long-term goals. This process will continue to evolve in 2025.
Looking Ahead to 2025
As we look ahead to 2025, our ambitions are focused on accelerating Airbus's mission through innovation, collaboration and strategic alignment. The core essence of what Acubed stands for has evolved over the years, shifting from disruption to acceleration — helping the company move faster and more effectively in key areas. Going into the next year, we aim to continue pushing the envelope in AI, autonomy and automation, with a focused approach that aligns closely with Airbus's broader goals.
Our strategy for 2025 is built around three key principles: Go First, Go Fast and Go Big. By "going first," we will continue to lead the way in important areas, positioning Acubed as the pathfinder for innovation. "Going fast" will remain a priority as we leverage the team's agility to deliver results in short timeframes, while "going big" emphasizes the importance of choosing projects that have significant impact. With a small but highly-skilled team, we must be selective in our focus, prioritizing initiatives that will make the most difference for Airbus and its ecosystem.
Ultimately, 2025 will be a year of strategic acceleration. By aligning more closely with the company's needs, working on high-impact projects and creating a more connected, agile team, Acubed is poised to drive meaningful change within Airbus and beyond.
Here’s to celebrating the successes of this year—and to even greater achievements in the future!