New aerospace initiative bridges the gap between government and industry

The Aerospace Industry Support Initiative (AISI) - a Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) initiative aimed at repositioning the South African Aerospace Industry as a future growth industry - has located its project management office at The Innovation Hub for a three-year incubation period during which to roll out its implementation strategy.

Francois Denner explaining the attributes of aircraft and their propulsion systems.

Alita Nthethe receptionist and administrator at AISI.

According to the dti's Francois Denner - Chairman of the AISI - the initiative was borne of a bilateral agreement between the CSIR and the dti to, through collective leadership, upgrade the South African Aerospace Industry and position it as an integrated part of global supply chains. This is aligned to the dti's vision for growing South Africa's high value industry sectors in support of government's Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (ASGISA) strategy.

The AISI strategy consists of six programmes, including Co-ordination, Promotion and Awareness, which is aimed at the small business sector, as well as Technology Advancement and Supply Chain Development.

The purpose of the latter, which has already yielded significant results, is to position the local aerospace industry in global markets as a major supplier in this sector. This includes first tier (primary, component and low tier suppliers as part of the supply chain. AISI has secured funding for an Aerospace Supplier Village in Centurion to establish an industry cluster, and is involved in discussions to establish more such parks, including an aerospace logistics park.

"The future industries that we are looking at involve ICT, biotechnology and other knowledge-intensive fields. Being located at The Innovation Hub allows us to get closer to some of the people that we need to be talking to and to really start to build a presence", says Denner.

AISI also aims to increase market access and export opportunities for South African goods and services through resourcing and overseeing the implementation of cardinal projects such as establishing titanium beneficiation facilities. This will contribute towards building technology and infrastructure platforms from which local enterprises can benefit. According to Denner, this will also potentially lead to the identification of new opportunities for companies at The Innovation Hub.

"It is important to consider the significance of innovation, technology and skills when solutions are proposed to fast track sustainable growth in a high value sector such as Aerospace," he says. To address this, AISI has adopted Human Resource Development as one of its key programmes. The Aerospace Centre of Excellence, which is being run through Wits University, will be supported for an initial five year-period to develop tertiary education skills and undertake applied research to meet the needs of the aerospace industry.

Denner foresees a well defined and coordinated series of clusters with well organised supply chains and skills development platforms emerging over the next five years, and that coherent strategies would have been implemented at a national level by then.

"Initiatives such as the national industrial participation programme have already resulted in companies such as Aerosud, which used to participate as a second and third tier supplier to Airbus, now recognised as first tier suppliers. "These are just the first steps towards the desired outcomes of market leadership and continuous upgrading of the South African Aerospace Industry in line with global trends," he concluded.

For more information on the AISI, visit them at unit L14 in the Enterprise Building at The Innovation Hub or contact Francois Denner at 012 844 0640/1/2/3/4, 012 394 1367 or 082 772 7328.

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