Each year the International Paris Air Show celebrates the best high-tech engineering and aerospace companies. The South West had some stellar representatives at the event last weekend highlighting the fact that the future of aerospace in the region continues to look strong.
Bristol-based The Centre for Modelling & Simulation (CFMS) was a part of the UK Pavilion at the West of England Aerospace Federation (WEAF) stand, representing the South West amongst the globally recognised organisations that are developing pioneering technology in the field.
“[We are] sharing our vision for assisting organisations in enhancing digital capability, which will deliver increased productivity and high value careers to the region”
And there are a lot of them in the region, for example, at the 2017 show, Invest Bristol & Bath hosted a series of presentations from local businesses including CFMS, GKN, BOXARR and Airbus.
The South West spreading its wings
This year, Steve Puetz, Business Development Manager at CFMS, showcased the organisation’s strategy with his presentation on ‘Delivering Digitally Enabled High-Value Design (HVD)’.
We caught up with Steve who told us more about what he hopes will come from the programme. He tells us, “The Innovation Programme aims to generate 300 new, high-value design and design/manufacturing jobs and careers in the South West of England and South Wales over the next five years.
“[It will also] demonstrate and bring to market enabling technologies to increase productivity by 20% in Services, Automotive, Aerospace, Construction & Infrastructure and enable the sustainable growth of SMEs in our region”.
“The Innovation Programme is built on delivering the requirements of the primes through the SME network, so regular connections are a fundamental part”
CFMS strives to push the capabilities of modern day technology. Specialising in modelling and simulation, the company provides multi-million-pound businesses and startups alike with the necessary tools to achieve the best results possible.
CFMS believes using HVD and artificial intelligence based systems to support organisations, particularly those showcasing at the International Paris Air Show, will boost both productivity and agility in a sector that is moving so quickly and competitively. Working closely with the entire supply chain will inevitably only be advantageous to the UK’s economy.
“It was an incredible event in terms of the scale and velocity”
Steve says he believes a, “Better connection between the industry primes and the SMEs” will come from the show. He adds, “The Innovation Programme is built on delivering the requirements of the primes through the SME network, so regular connections are a fundamental part.”
Soaring Heights
Sam Paice, Chief Operating Officer, says, “We are delighted to present at the 2017 International Paris Air Show, sharing our vision for assisting organisations in enhancing digital capability, which will deliver increased productivity and high-value careers to the region”.
The Paris Air Show 2017 didn’t fail to deliver. Steve tells us his personal highlights of the weekend: “It was an incredible event in terms of the scale and velocity, to see the extent of the aerospace industry and the number of people and organisations that are involved in this sector. It also provided a great opportunity to learn about the latest industry developments and technologies and to meet existing and new contacts.”
Thanks to Steve for taking the time to talk to us. Are you curious about the region’s aerospace cluster? You can visit South West Aerospace’s website to find out more. You can also visit CFMS’s website to keep up to date with its latest news or follow them on Twitter here: @CFMSuk.

Shona Wright
Shona covers all things editorial at TechSPARK. She publishes news articles, interviews and features about our fantastic tech and digital ecosystem, working with startups and scaleups to spread the word about the cool things they're up to.
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