The Next Chapter of Acubed

I’ve been a part of the Acubed family since September 2015, first as a project executive and then as CEO. Being a part of this incredibly energetic and ambitious team has been an honor, and I continue to be inspired by what our teams accomplish every day.

We started with an ambitious vision and, in a few short years, the results have exceeded our expectations. Together we’ve brought about Vahana’s first flights, Altiscope’s roadmap for the safe integration of autonomous vehicles into our airspace, Voom’s expansion and successful transition, the Transpose modular cabin demonstration, and new projects in exciting areas like digital manufacturing, blockchain, and autonomous systems. Each of these represents a unique component of what Acubed was originally built to do — help Airbus better understand, explore, and hedge against innovations that are just becoming visible on the horizon.

As our projects have matured, many of them have found meaningful engagements within the Airbus ecosystem, and a path to becoming products and services in the real world. We have evolved along the way, learning from the challenges we have encountered. Today, Acubed is a robust innovation platform, delivering reliably on ambitious goals and timelines, and I’ve worked diligently to create a structure in which future leadership and future projects continue to be successful. As we prepare to launch our next batch of projects, Acubed is at a natural inflection point. I believe this is the right time for me to step down as CEO and hand over the reins to a successor who will lead Acubed through the next stage of its evolution.

It gives me great pleasure to transition Acubed to the capable hands of my friend Mark Cousin, a long-time Airbus employee who currently serves as Head of Demonstrators within the CTO organization. He is an accomplished aeronautics leader with over thirty years of experience pursuing innovative products and delivering on seemingly impossible goals (just look at the Beluga XL!). His ambition and experience make him a great fit for Acubed and I’m excited to watch the organization continue to grow under his leadership.

Mark’s tenure will begin in December 2018. I will remain with Acubed in an advisory role to support Mark and ensure a smooth and effective transition.

Thank you to the Acubed team, Airbus, and all of you who work alongside us as we build the future of flight.

/-Rodin Lyasoff