Sustainable Aviation Test Environment (SATE) wins Collaborate To Innovate Award for Aerospace and Defence

SATE, the low carbon aviation test centre, has been named winner of The Engineer’s Collaborate To Innovate Award for Aerospace and Defence. The project was credited with driving the development of low carbon aviation technologies whilst simultaneously helping to improve the connectivity of the UK’s most remote region. It comes following Windracers’ groundbreaking autonomous aviation test flights in partnership with Royal Mail on the Shetland Islands and Orkney Islands.

Celebrating the very best in UK collaborations and innovations in engineering, the Collaborate To Innovate awards provide a fascinating snapshot of the trends and technologies that are defining modern engineering. Other awards winners included the world’s largest commercial electric vehicle project and a revolutionary device for diagnosing prostate cancer.

SATE is the UK’s first aviation test centre based in a commercial airport environment in Kirkwall, Orkney. Launched as part of UKRI’s Future Flight Challenge, the project is testing different types of low-carbon aircraft to identify the next generation of air services as well as the operational airport infrastructure necessary to support sustainable aviation.

Windracers is one of SATE’s technology partners and has conducted a series of successful test flights in partnership with Royal Mail on the Shetland Islands and Orkney Islands. Royal Mail expects Windracers’ lower-emission drones will reduce its carbon footprint while improving the reliability of island mail services which are often affected by bad weather.

Commenting on this year’s competition, editor of The Engineer Jon Excell said: “Once more, the C2I awards has uncovered a treasure trove of inspiring collaborative engineering projects and provided a compelling reminder of how engineers are working together to address some of the biggest challenges society faces.”

Click here to read about all of this year’s winning projects at The Engineer magazine’s seventh annual Collaborate To Innovate (C2I) Awards.