Sophie Lane • 13.12.23 •  3 mins

It’s almost the end of the year and that gives a bit of time for reflection before we head off to celebrate the break in our own ways. At the ATI we’ve been thinking about what we have achieved and recently published our impact reporting webpage and report for FY 2022/23. Sharing our impact with you in this way is new for ATI and I’m really pleased with the results.

We have tried to reflect the progress that we’ve been able to make in the sector through the ATI Programme, events, showcases and thought leadership campaigns that are helping to drive innovation and positive change. Getting the sector together has never been more important to expose and discuss different visions and points of view to help us crack the net zero challenges. 

The report, which we will publish annually, contains information about how and where the ATI Programme funding is spent, providing further clarity and hopefully dispelling some of the myths around  funding – I often hear that ATI doesn’t support SMEs but in fact, SMEs now make up more than half of formal project partners and we’re looking forward to investing even more in the supply chain through our new SME Programme in 2024. As well as this annual summary of the ATI Programme, we’ll be updating our impact reporting webpage regularly as we progress through the funding batches. 

We’ve also shared some of the other ways in which the ATI supports UK aerospace outside the funding programme. We made two formal partnership agreements with the Midlands Aerospace Alliance and the Farnborough Aerospace Consortium in FY 2022/3 and just last week signed another with the Aerospace Wales Forum. I’m looking forward to more of these in 2024 as these partnerships help us to understand the complexities faced by different types of organisation in different regions – critically important if we are to support them effectively.

One of my personal highlights from the last year was our first formal presence at Paris Air Show. We were able to give a platform to 10 smaller companies who would have not otherwise been able to exhibit and as a result some exciting collaborative partnerships are now being explored. 

As well as the impact we’re creating by investing in aerospace, ATI has also made positive commitments to reducing our own environmental footprint and to improving the experience of those working in our sector. Earlier this year we signed up to Race to Zero and we’ll be releasing our first progress report soon. You can also find out how we’re supporting the Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter and we have more in the pipeline on our other activities to support equality, diversity and inclusion both for our employees and the wider sector. Building on our ‘Aerospace for All’ inclusivity networking breakfast, which we held for the first time at the ATI Conference, we’ll be holding more events on this theme in the New Year– I hope you’ll join us and share your perspectives. 

Hopefully our commitment to transparency, and the publishing of this data will allow you to understand what ATI is doing and how we can help to support the sector. Any feedback on what more we could be sharing would be gratefully received and we will continue to develop our reporting to better meet your needs. For now, enjoy a well-deserved break and I look forward to working with you in 2024!