May 26 – Isabella Fumarola, 27 year old from Rome, was born and raised in the Italian capital, and holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University La Sapienza. In 2013, she moved to London, where she is completing her PhD in Aerodynamics. Isabella is in Hamburg as the only Italian member of the all-female “Bolleboos” team from City University of London, finalist in the Airbus international competition Fly Your Ideas. Isabella and the rest of the team will present their project in the hopes of winning the €30,000 prize, or the runner-up prize of €15,000. The five finalist teams represent eight nationalities and nine universities. The disciplines represented are mainly in the engineering field, and the percentage of female students is significantly higher than in previous years. The “Bolleboos” team presents a new Wego system, which captures energy generated by aircrafts during taxiing operations. More than 500 projects were submitted for the biennial competition and then selected for the final round of the competition (to be precise, 518 multidisciplinary teams representing 3,700 students from 104 countries). Airbus, in collaboration with UNESCO, created the Fly Your Ideas competition in order to inspire the next generation of innovators, giving them the opportunity to discover the exciting opportunities that the aviation sector can offer. (PO / Gil)
