The Politecnico di Milano and AgustaWestland, have launched AWParc (Advanced Rotorcraft AgustaWestland Technical Center), a company formed at the Polytechnic’s Bovisa campus.  The focus of this alliance is on expertise and skills in developing research projects related to the helicopter sector.

AgustaWestland has made only two similar centers in the world, with the British Universities of Liverpool and Bristol. Teams of researchers from the Politecnico di Milano and engineers will work closely with AgustaWestland in the field of vertical flight, designing advanced technologies to support the development of future products. Research projects will be funded directly by AgustaWestland, participated by AgustaWestland in external projects (eg EU projects), or self-funded (in the case of projects in their infancy).

Specifically AWParc will:

• establish and operate a workshop for research and to provide scientific and technical advice for the industry
• perform feasibility studies, technical check-up, testing and certification of equipment, components and systems, develop models of processes or systems that are in the helicopter sector
• participate in research projects and technology transfer programs, nationally and internationally
• promote and organize training courses, seminars and conferences.

The development of future products and the improvement of current research effort requires constant effort, and it is necessary that the research capabilities are cultivated at an academic level. In 2006, AgustaWestland funded a PhD in helicopter design at the Politecnico di Milano, and in 2010 assisted with the Advanced Training Course in the same sector. AgustaWestland views the collaboration as not only helping in keeping the teaching in the field current, but also preparing students to enter the helicopter market with the right skills.

AgustaWestland and Politecnico di Milano have collaborated in helicopter R&D from the 1950s. By the late 1990s, the transfer to Bovisa Department of Aeronautics (now the Department of Aerospace Engineering) and the availability of more experimental capabilities, led to a deeper collaboration involving the Department of Mechanics in 2000 and the  Electronics and Information in 2007.

AWParc brings a formality to this multi-disciplinary cooperation.

Photo from the launch press conference, from left
Giuseppe Orsi, CEO AgustaWestland
Roberto Formigoni, President of the Region of Lombardi
Giovanni Azzone, Rector of the Politecnico di Milano
Raffaele Cattaneo, Councillor for Infrastructure and Mobility, Region of Lombardi