Consortium of Portugal and China invests in technological innovation in aviation

O China-Portugal Aviation Simulation Technology Research Institute was born from an invitation from China Southern Airlines and Guangdong University of Technology (GDUT) to the University of São José (USJ), Macau, Lusa told USJ's School of Arts and Humanities director Carlos Sena Caires.

By integrating this Sino-Portuguese consortium, “in a role of design consulting and participation in the issue of virtual reality and increased”, USJ brought on board a Portuguese partner, the University of Madeira.

“ They have research carried out at Madeira Airport, particularly in the study of the winds and the island’s orography, and a lot of research in these areas, including the use of artificial intelligence to study wind prevention and measurement models at Madeira Island airport,” Carlos Sena Caires explained to the Lusa agency.

The institute was launched in June, in Guangzhou, in the province of Guangdong, neighboring Macau, and formalized last week with the signing of a memorandum of understanding at the University of Madeira. The aim of this project, the academic indicated, is to develop projects that can be “implemented in real life and industry”.

The Chinese partners also noted that they are interested in updating the use of artificial intelligence for the development of simulators, which can serve different types of training, including pilot preparation and modeling of Chinese orography (relief study).

With researchers involved, projects can have direct applicability through “ patent creation, new models and applications”, reinforced Caires.

“China Southern Airlines is one of the largest Chinese aviation companies, has a huge weight in the Great Bay and South China, and we are interested, as higher education institutions, in being linked to industry,” he said.

The Great Bay is a Beijing project aimed at creating a worldwide metropolis from the special administrative regions of Macao and Hong Kong and nine cities of Guangdong Province (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Foshan, Zhongshan, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Zhuhai and Zhaoqing), where more than 80 million people live.

In Portugal, the responsible remained, this technological dimension of the region is still unknown: “Macau at this point, from the point of view of design, which is my area, I think it is the place to be. The Great Bay, in southern China, with Shenzhen right next door, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Foshan, Dongguan (...) all these big cities are very fast developing and need designers, architects and researchers.”.

The consortium is also “in the lines of action of the Macau Government”, which since 2003 has strengthened Macau’s role as a platform for economic and commercial cooperation with Portuguese-speaking countries.

As far as USJ is concerned, it is part of an internationalization strategy of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. GDUT has “one of China’s top five design schools,” he explains. “It makes sense to position ourselves in these areas and establish collaborations with the best institutions in China and southern China, in this case the Great Bay.”.

The memorandum also provides for academic mobility, exchange of teachers and students and joint workshops.