Dr. Pablo Bermell-Garcia, Airbus Group, delivers the IET Lord Austin Lecture
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), one of the world’s largest multi-discipline, professional 
societies for engineers, hosted its Prestige Lord Austin Lecture in the city today. Dr. Pablo Bermell-Garcia, Research Team Leader at Airbus Group delivered a lecture on ‘Building a civilian plane; trends, challenges and lessons for India’. The lecture took place on the sidelines of the first of its kind conference – ‘Advanced Manufacturing & Innovation Conference’ that was hosted by GREAT in partnership with the IET, UKTI and Science and Innovation Network (SIN) as part of the UK-India Innovation week.
The lecture focused on the growth of civil aviation in India that according to latest reports is set to be the third largest aviation market by 2026. Given the strategic nature of the aerospace industry and the high skill level of jobs that it can deliver, Dr Garcia stressed on the need for a proposal; not only for building a plane, but also for building capacity in aerospace related manufacturing infrastructure and design skills. He highlighted the trends and challenges in building a civilian plane through case studies on similar projects worldwide. The lecture carried insights on the global industry trends, innovation and suggestions in the aerospace sector for India to consider.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Garcia said, “It was an exciting experience and a privilege to deliver The Lord Austin Lecture. It helped me gain an India perspective and put forward the trends and innovations taking place in the industry across the globe. India is one of the rising economies with a great leader, there is abundance of young engineers and hence the need is for constructive engagement between government and industry that will help establish policies focusing on developing a ‘Made in India’s aerospace industry. This in turn will help meet both the local and global demand for new technologies in both research and manufacturing.”
Mr David M Lindley, Chairman of the Institution of Engineering & Technology – Aerospace Technical Professional Network, Technical Advisory Panel, “The IET Lord Austin Lecture and supporting conference provided an excellent opportunity for the IET in India and the IET Aerospace Technical Professional Network to engage with aerospace SMEs and sectors focused on developing an indigenous aerospace capability within India. The lecture provided a unique insight in to the need, demands and challenges facing both the local and global aerospace industries.”
“With emphasis placed upon the importance of knowledge transfer and close co-operation with internal and external engineering companies and partners, India presents a unique opportunity to establish a strong aerospace presence in the global market. Events like the IETs Lord Austin Lecture allow government, industry, academia to achieve this goal, he added.”
“Aerospace engineering is a critical aspect of the Make-In-India initiatives which has opened a plethora of opportunities for engineers in India. According to the IET- Feedback Survey report released in September, 2015, a very low number of Indian engineering colleges offered aerospace engineering as a stream. Dr Garcia’s lecture further highlighted the number of opportunities in the aerospace industry. Dr Garcia’s lecture was highly insightful and relevant to industry, academia and students”, said Shekhar Sanyal, Director and Country Head of IET India.
