16 December, 2021

Stephan Uhrenbacher, CEO & Co-Founder of the Sustainable Aero Lab:

Sustainable Aero Lab is less than 12 months old. In this time we saw a rapid growth of our own activities in mentoring startups. We are now firmly established with a global footprint. An ever growing number of high quality startups, top level mentors, and investors, and now also corporate partners are entering our ecosystem.
In 2021, the former "niche" topic of sustainable aviation received more attention than ever before.

In the three main fields
1. Electrification
2. Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF)
3. Hydrogen,

in 2021 we witnessed countless projects and players gaining significant traction: Ampaire, Rolls-Royce speed electric record, Universal Hydrogen, ZeroAvia, just to name a few. There are also step changes in the amount of SAF being made available, as the recent announcement by Qantas & BP demonstrates. All this is encouraging.

Underneath, we observe a fierce battle of beliefs.

Electricity advocates point to the problems of hydrogen, proponents of hydrogen point out the deficits of batteries. Turbine makers point out the long path for the new technologies to become viable. Governments are sponsoring different paths based on where their respective industry is perceived to be leading. At the same time, it is important to remember that upgrading today's fleet of passenger aircraft to the latest generation of airplanes would already reduce emissions by 50%.

There are countless projects and innovations that may not make headlines (yet), but are needed to make sure the major projects can succeed: Fuel cells will need new cooling technologies that don't induce drag.Hydrogen will need to be stored efficiently. Batteries are way too heavy for the amount of energy provided. Finding ways to produce SAF low cost and ethically sound is difficult. Safety concerns will have to be adressed in all new technologies. In operations, aircraft routing and slot management is still inefficient.

At Sustainable Aero Lab we will support all technologies that have the potential to reduce emissions from aviation.

We will continue to work with startups and mentors from all areas of innovation. We will adhere to first principles of physics, while being open to positive surprises and unexpected acceleration of technological progress. And will continue to share what we learn in the spirit of open innovation. We remain open for new partners who share our objectives, irrespective of geography.

With this we hope that we can play our part in our common goal. We wish you all a happy and productive 2022.

Stephan Uhrenbacher
Co-Founder & CEO Sustainable Aero Lab.