Two months after the sumptuous Thanksgiving dinner and the awards ceremony at the Cercle de l’Union Interalliée in Paris, the 2017 USAIR Student Award winners met at the Ecole Militaire on January 19 th Alexis, Thibaud Renaud, Houcem, Alexandre and I were here to discuss our work before an assembly of USAIRE industrial members and French Air Force officers.
After an essential welcome coffee where we all met and mingle with the other guests, the seminar opened with a speech by General Letalenet, Director of CERPA. Michel Dubarry EMEA President of Rolls Royce International and Executive Vice President of USAIRE, continued the introduction by thanking all the sponsors who allowed this event and the French Air Force for its warm welcome. Then Julie Guth, President of ORAJe, made a presentation of the activities of the association, before giving the floor to Etienne Bobin, Vice President of ORAJe, who then launched the round table of the student panel.
We went on stage, sitting down in front of a dense assembly While this situation was undoubtedly stressful at first, Etienne was there to moderate the panel and control the discussions, streamlining the process By asking incisive questions about our work, he made sure to touch every aspect of digitization and to share the time equally between all. After a few questions, we became more comfortable with the situation and able to respond more freely, completing the answers of others, confronting our points of view and displaying a great synergy. It even became difficult to give up the microphone because we all had a lot to say, but the time was limited and we had to move on.
The first session ended with some questions from professionals who wanted to get our point of view on some of the issues and challenges of the industry Although we are not experts, the fact of having asked us these sometimes pointed questions, testifies to the confidence and the interest shown by the audience for our work.
A panel of professional players in the aeronautics sector followed, composed of the following speakers Colonel Laborie (French Air Force), André Fischer (Vice President Program, Business Development and Strategy of AAR Corp), James Kornberg (Director Innovation of Air France KLM), Rob Santoro (Rolls Royce International Digital Vice President) and Bruno Stoufflet (R&T Director of Dassault Aviation). Led by Pascal Parant Vice President Marketing AAR Corp and President of USAIRE, this panel has resumed the same form as the previous one directly confronting each other’s experiences and points of view to daily strategic and industrial challenges Putting our academic research in perspective in the face of current operational challenges was very rewarding.
The event concluded with a particularly interesting speech by Jean Jacques Le Pen, Lawyer and Legal Counsel of USAIRE, concerning the ownership of data, a major stake of the aeronautics industry. At the end, we enjoyed a convivial cocktail to mingle with guests, redo debates and expand our network. What passionate discussions. To conclude, I would like to thank the Air Force officers for making this beautiful day possible.