CSIRO-Boeing partnership celebrates 20 years

CSIRO and Boeing Research & Technology, Boeing’s central R&D organisation, undertake strategic research in the areas of advanced materials, complex systems, information and communication technologies and advanced platform systems.

CSIRO’s Co-Chair of the CSIRO-Boeing Steering Committee, Dr Alex Zelinsky, says building a strong culture of collaboration between researchers and management from both organisations has been key to the longevity of the partnership.

“Due to our 20-year history we now have strong relationships throughout all levels of our organisations,” Dr Zelinsky says.

“These relationships create a highly innovative working environment and the ability for us to produce significant outcomes for both Australia and Boeing, including its companies in Australia.”

The partnership began from a meeting, in 1988 at the Australian Bicentennial Airshow, between Dr Colin Adam, then Director of CSIRO’s Institute of Industrial Technologies and Burt Welliver, then Corporate Senior VP of Boeing.  

From this meeting, several projects evolved including atmospheric modelling research, which continues to this day. 

Boeing’s Co-Chair of the Steering Committee, Don Winter, has seen significant growth of Boeing research and technology in Australia.

“Our strategic partnership with CSIRO provided Boeing with confidence to start a Boeing research and technology group in Australia in 2008,” Mr Winter says.

“This week we are visiting several Boeing and CSIRO sites in Australia and it is pleasing to see the progress of our newly formed teams and the continued collaborative nature of our research.”

One current project aims to develop flight systems and technologies that will enable the reliable integration of unmanned aerial vehicles into civilian airspace.

Known as the “Smart Skies” project, it is a three-year research collaboration between Boeing Research & Technology and the Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation (ARCAA), a joint venture of the Queensland University of Technology and CSIRO.

This research is on display this week at the Australian International Airshow, at Avalon Airport outside Melbourne.

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