Air travel has made the world smaller, it has connected peoples, economies and cultures.
It has also become important in its own right, accounting for about 2.5% of GDP and creating (directly or indirectly) three million jobs in Europe. But we have to balance these benefits against the undeniable contribution of aviation to
air pollution and carbon emissions.
It is often repeated that air travel contributes less than 3 % of manmade emissions of CO2 and NOx.
That may sound insignificant, but air traffic is growing at about 5% per year and we cannot accept an equally rapid growth in emissions.
To put it simply, if we want to continue to enjoy the benefits of air travel we must address its environmental
impacts. Research and innovation are essential for “decoupling“ these benefits from these impacts.

The aeronautics industry has recognised this challenge and is rising to it. The European aeronautics technology platform – ACARE – has established impressive targets for emissions reductions by 2020. New technology is an important part of the answer, but the huge cost of aeronautical research means that companies and research organisations must work together, and the long aircraft development cycle of 10 to 15 years means that they must invest now in order to introduce the environmentally friendly technologies that will meet the ambitious goals.
The European Commission has also recognised this challenge. There is an obvious European public interest in limiting climate change and environmental damage from air transport. As a public actor the Commission is well placed to complement private sector actions. It has the tools to help reduce fragmentation of research efforts and boost large-scale and long-term investment in strategic research fields.
The case for a European scale public private research partnership was compelling: Clean Sky was born.

The Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) will develop a series of breakthrough technologies to
reduce significantly the environmental impact of air transport. It will do this by bringing together the critical mass to conduct high cost research and demonstration by sharing risks between public and private partners.
The European Commission has launched its first 5 JTIs under the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) for Research and Development. JTIs are Public-Private Partnerships for research co-operation of all main stakeholders at European level. They
are designed to stimulate and channel private investment for co-operative R&D in pre-market conditions, thus fostering technology development in key markets whilst fulfilling public interest objectives.
The Clean Sky JTI will bring to reality a new generation of greener, more environmentally efficient aircraft.
It was born in mid 2008 with a total budget of €1.6 billion, contributed to on a 50/50 basis by the Commission and the R&D stakeholders. Initially Clean Sky was under the management responsibility of
the Commission, but since 17th November 2009 the Joint Undertaking set up to manage the JTI has become a fully autonomous legal entity; governed by its own board with only one Commission representative on it. Clean Sky is now “flying
solo“, taking full control of implementation of its ambitious Research Programme.

That programme will provide a major impact on reducing noise, CO2 and NOx emissions. It will enable the development of full scale technology demonstrators for the next generation aircraft for the different flying segments. Success in meeting these challenges by its target date in 2017 will also help the European industry to get a lead in the new technologies which will give it a clear competitive edge worldwide. Such large Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) can fulfil an important and unique role which up to now did not exist. The combination of public and private resources and skills to achieve mutually beneficial ends can be a powerful tool. But both public financing bodies and private stakeholders have an enormous responsibility in ensuring the proper functioning of such initiatives, both in terms of full accountability of the public funds provided and efficient use of resources.

The first JTIs are pioneers. They have been breaking new ground and the process has not been easy.
The legislative instruments at our disposal were not designed with European research PPPs in mind. They were not specifically tailored to the consensus-seeking approach between the public and private cultures, which must be the basic condition for JTIs to be created and for them to function effectively.
We have succeeded in building these partnerships in spite of these difficulties. We must let Clean Sky “fly solo“, but we must also watch it carefully and learn from the lessons it can teach us. I have already setup a working group of private and public representatives to take stock of the experience accumulated so far and provide further insights and recommendations.
The Copenhagen Summit has pushed climate change even higher on the political agenda and demonstrated a general consensus on the need for pro-active measures to mitigate the human contribution to climate change. These measures will require the involvement of politicians, policy makers, scientists and technologists and all industrial and service sectors.

The Clean Sky JTI is a practical embodiment of these actors working together. Clean Sky should not underestimate the importance of its mission. I do not underestimate its ability to achieve it.