The Québec-Seoul 2024 aerospace scientific mission, in which Jean-Marc Frayret, professor at Polytechnique Montréal and research director of the SDG Institute for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), took place from October 28th to November 1st, 2024. Concordia University, École de Technologies Supérieures and CRIAQ were also represented on this mission, whose main objective was to explore the Korean innovation ecosystem of Urban Air Mobility (UAM). The mission enabled the Québec delegation to meet key institutions such as KAIST and KAU universities, the KARI and KITECH research centers, KIAST, an institute specializing in safety and certification in the aerospace sector, and local government bodies involved in UAM. The mission concluded with the Québec delegates taking part in K-UAM Confex, an international forum on UAM organized by UAM Team Korea.
South Korea’s progress in Urban Air Mobility
One of the main lessons learned from this mission is that South Korea is well ahead of Québec and Canada in the development and adoption of UAM. The establishment of the UAM Team Korea in 2020 has enabled the development of an ambitious roadmap for the adoption of UAM, the Grand Challenge project. This project involves numerous industrial, academic and government players, as well as research centers, specialized institutes and other players in the aerospace ecosystem. The project plans to test eVTOL urban flights by the end of 2025. The Korean UAM ecosystem is thus based on close collaboration between numerous public and private players, coordinated by the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, creating a model for effective UAM integration.
Opportunities for collaboration with South Korea
The mission identified several potential collaborations between Québec and South Korea. In particular, KAIST University (a member of UAM Team Korea) expressed interest in collaborating with Québec to develop an intelligent hangar for UAM, using smart sensors for automatic detection of vehicle structural problems. KARI (an executive member of UAM Team Korea) is currently building a highly advanced digital twin, with several digital simulation models of various complementary aspects of the UAM already integrated. KARI also offers very interesting avenues for technological partnerships, notably with the SDG-AAM Institute. KITECH is a research center dedicated to helping small and medium-sized businesses with their R&D needs. Although KITECH is not directly a member of UAM Team Korea, it is also positioning itself as a key partner for the application of artificial intelligence in the air mobility of the future, 3D printing, and the development of advanced materials for AAM.
