The European Commission is the strategic partner of ILA Berlin 2024

05.02.2024 Berlin | Brüssel

- European Commission and ILA Berlin expand their partnership for #ILA24
- Common goals: climate-neutrality, security, competitiveness
- EU to be strongly represented at ILA

The European Commission will again be the strategic partner of ILA. The partnership was announced today by the commission, the BDLI and Messe Berlin. In order to be able to live in a sustainable, secure and networked world, Europe must continue to strengthen its technological leadership, thus paving the way for a sustainable future for aerospace.

This year, ILA Berlin will be the largest and most important aerospace show in the EU. From 5 to 9 June 2024, under the heading ’Pioneering Aerospace’, the world’s aerospace industry will be coming together in the heart of Europe in Berlin in order to showcase and discuss the future of aerospace. Key topics will be innovation, new technologies and sustainability, together with climate-neutral aviation, mobility, security and networking.

The partnership announced today gives these strategic priorities a boost for realising them together. They include climate-neutral aviation in the future, competitiveness and safeguarding the future of Europe’s industry, space exploration as a guarantor of our modern lifestyle, security within Europe and the continent’s defence capabilities.

Rosalinde van der Vlies, Director Clean Planet, DG RTD, European Commission said: "The strategic partnership with ILA Berlin is a great opportunity to confirm our key strategic priorities for a green and digital transformation of the aviation sector to a European and global audience. Through Horizon Europe, the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation, including the public-private partnerships Clean Aviation and SESAR, we are supporting the development of sustainable aviation fuels, zero-emission airports and zero-emission aircraft. I am looking forward to ILA 2024.”

Dr Gerardo Walle, Managing Director of BDLI: “Europe is facing big challenges. In order to safeguard and strengthen Europe’s leadership in the fields of aerospace, security, defence and sustainability, all actors must work closely together. Aerospace is at the heart of a sovereign Europe and its capability to act. Whether the topic is maintaining our security, decarbonising aviation or independent access to space – the strategic partnership with the European Commission underlines our common priorities.“

In its role as Europe’s leading aerospace show, ILA 2024 will present the aerospace industry’s indispensable contribution to a modern, sustainable and secure digital future. That includes collecting climate data, which is fundamentally important to meeting the targets of the European Green Deal and making Europe climate-neutral by 2050. Furthermore, by the end of the decade and as part of the Artemis space programme, the goal is for Europeans to set foot on the moon, an important and equally fascinating area of our activity in the future.

European Commission strongly represented at ILA

From the ILA Future Lab to Advanced Air Mobility – the future of aerospace will be presented and discussed on the four live ILA Stages at the event. The European Commission will be represented by several high-profile figures and feature important contributions. There will also be a discussion on how the political framework can enable the aerospace industry to meet the EU’s climate targets by 2050. EU research and innovation programmes will also be presented, among them the Clean Aviation programme which aims to accelerate the transition to climate-neutral aviation and bring the private and public sector together.

On the display areas of ILA Berlin at BER Airport the focus will be on innovations, both from European exhibitors such as Airbus, Arianespace, Diehl, Leonardo, Liebherr, MBDA, MTU Aero Engines, Rolls-Royce, OHB, Saab, Safran, Thales and the German Aerospace Center, as well as from numerous international exhibitors such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin from the USA and Israel Aerospace Industries. The largest single exhibitor is the German Armed Forces.

The European Commission booth will gather three directorates-generals (DGs); DG Research and Innovation (RTD), DG Mobility and Transport (MOVE) and DG Defence Industry and Space (DEFIS), as well as several EU services such as Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking, SESAR Joint Undertaking and the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). The aim is to showcase to ILA visitors how EU research projects contribute concretely to the objectives of the European Green Deal.

On 4 June 2024, the day prior to ILA, the 4th Berlin Aviation Summit (BAS) will take place. Major industry stakeholders, policymakers at federal and European level, representatives of the international industry, the energy sector, finances, research
and science will be gathering in Berlin to discuss a common path towards sustainable aviation based on advanced technologies and innovations, and with it the energy transition in the skies.