On Monday, this week, the first-ever Aviation Innovation Expo in Ethiopia was opened at Addis Ababa Science Museum. The expo aims at promoting local inventions and innovations by the youth generation in the aviation industry. Encouraging young innovators, practitioners to explore the local talents and local knowledge in the sector is the goal of the expo in addition to displaying the aviation development journey of Ethiopia.
The history of aviation in Ethiopia goes back to late 1920s. In 1929, French made airplane, Potez-25 for the first time flown by French pilot Andre Milet landed in Addis Ababa enrooted from Djibouti, according to Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA). This implies that, Ethiopia joined the aviation industry just 26 years after the first attempt flight by the Write brothers, ECAA stated. This marked the history of aviation in Ethiopia and since then, the aviation industry is growing from time to time and Ethiopia currently owns Africa’s largest airline.
A year later, in 1930 five sweater airplanes like Farman-192 and others were purchased by the government for postal, security and government services between the towns of Dire Dawa, Djibouti, Debremarkos and Gondar. The aircraft technology in Ethiopia cross in to a new chapter in 1935 with the assembling of the first aircraft named TSEHAY by Land wing Weber, German national. In addition, in 1930 the first maintenance technicians and flying school was established in Jigjiga, eastern Ethiopia and the first forerunners graduated in 1931, ECAA pointed out. This was a foundation that promotes local efforts in the aviation industry.
In 1944, after Ethiopia was invited by the United States of America to attend the Chicago conference, Ethiopia signed the convention of the International Aviation Organization. And that year, Ethiopia established the Civil Aviation Authority and the next year, in 1945, Ethiopian Airlines was founded which currently is Africa’s biggest airline. Aviation school was established in 1951 in Addis Ababa for the first time and the first 60 trainees of the school were trained in Communication, Navigation, Aircraft, Metrology, and Radio operation and maintenance. Through this process and continuous development, the aviation industry is now among the key sectors of Ethiopia contributing critical role on the development endeavors of the country.
To display the historical journey of the aviation sector in Ethiopia and to promote and explore local talents, innovations and knowledge in the sector, the first-ever Aviation Innovation Expo was organized here in Addis Ababa this week. Opening the first Aviation Innovation Expo, the House of Peoples’ Representatives (HoPR) Speaker, Tagesse Chafo said that workable research-based innovations and modernizations are crucial for the holistic development and Excellency of Ethiopia’s aviation industry. The Aviation Innovation Expo 2023 is organized by the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA) and the Ministry of Transport and Logistics (MoTL) at the Science Museum here in the capital with the theme “Innovation for Aviation Excellency,” to stay for six days.
Tagesse stated that, researches and innovational ideas drawn from universities and research centers should be translated to maintain the sustainable growth and development of Ethiopia in the aviation industry. As to him, local researches and innovations explore indigenous knowledge to accelerate the development of the aviation industry. “It is also important to put our efforts and contextualize homegrown knowledge and technology transfer towards realizing Ethiopia’s journey to prosperity.”
The speaker underlines that capitalizing the involvement and strong participation of the youth and leveraging the talents of the new generation is essential to accelerate the development of sector. “The new generation is full of talents and is coming with new ideas, innovations and researches that can improve and transform the development of the sectors,” he added. As it is the era of technology and innovations, Tagesse stated, giving due priority for researches and innovations in the aviation industry is vital to further strengthen the ever-growing aviation industry of Ethiopia.
Tagesse reiterated that considering the importance for sustainable development and prosperity, the Ethiopian Government is committed to support innovations and researches in the aviation industry. To maintain the development and to accelerate the growth of the industry, promoting local innovations and researches is vital. Tagesse calls for innovators and researchers to translate researches and innovations into practical applications to contribute their shares for the development of Ethiopia.
For his part, Alemu Sime (PhD), Transport and Logistics Minister, stated that the Ethiopian Government promotes development of aviation technologies and homegrown innovations. “Aviation innovation has been given due priority by the government following the reform in 2018”, Alemu stated adding that “this aviation innovation expo, the first of its type, is an additional and bold move to further realize the ambition of the government to transform the aviation sector.”
For the Minister, the aviation industry requires a huge amount of technological inputs and emphasized the need to give much attention and assistance to produce more innovative youth in quality and quantity to meet the desired goal in the sector. “Despite its long journey, homegrown innovation has not been contributing a lot to the industry’s development and the sector has long been dependent on overseas technology.”
The development of the aviation industry is critically important for landlocked Ethiopia. Accelerating the development of the aviation industry can contribute a huge share for the holistic development of the country. Sharing Tagesse’s idea, Alemu stated that the aviation expo would play essential role in bringing new solutions and to overcome the challenges that the sector is facing. He underlined the need to give due attention and support to the youth innovators in the sector to translate their innovations.
For his part, Director General of ECAA, Getachew Mengistie, said that various projects have been implemented by the authority to make Ethiopia a competent and preferable aviation hub in Africa. “ECAA is capitalizing on modern technologies and its qualified expertes,” adding the aviation expo is expected to stimulate innovators and researchers in the sector.
Symposiums, expos and other events related to aviation industry are planned to take place in the sidelines of the expo. These events are expected to play a vital role to share experiences with diverse actors in the aviation business, according to Getachew. In addition, Getachew said that ECAA is working with Ministry of Innovation and Technology to prepare a national aviation technology development roadmap so as to promote local technological developments in the aviation industry.
“At the expo, 95 young innovators are presenting 90 different projects individually and as a team. Besides, some 34 private and government institutions in the aviation sectors have also displayed their innovations,” the Director-General reiterated. He further stated that, ECAA will continue nurturing talents of youths and providing support so as to promote local initiatives and innovations. Sustainable support will be provided to at least 15 innovators with better innovation in the sector to select through competition.
BY DARGIE KAHSAY
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 15 DECEMBER 2023
