A team of students from the University of São Paulo in Brazil have claimed the top prize of €30,000 as winners of Airbus Fly Your Ideas 2013. Team Levar won for its proposal for a luggage loading and unloading system for airplane cargo compartments to reduce the workload of airport baggage handlers with an air cushion solution inspired by air hockey tables. Supported by Unesco, Airbus Fly Your Ideas is a biennial competition that challenges students worldwide to develop ideas for a more sustainable aviation industry.
The winning team consists of University of São Paulo design students Marcos Philipson, Leonardo Akamatsu, Adriano Furtado and Caio Reis, and Henrique Corazza, who studies at Loughborough University in the UK. All appeared at the Paris Air Show on Monday in the EADS Pavilion.
The runner-up prize of €15,000 went to Team Clima from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia, for their proposal to develop aircraft fueled by a blend of sustainably produced liquefied biomethane and liquefied natural gas (Bio-LNG).
This third edition of the competition saw more than 600 teams from around the world submit a proposal responding to one of six challenges presented by Airbus for aviation in the 21st century. More than 60 Airbus assessors evaluated the submissions for quality, environmental benefits and for the level of innovation demonstrated by the team.
In addition to the prize money, the students get to welcome experts from Airbus’s innovation cell onto their campus for a week of workshops and training later this year.