A center for industrial innovation in design and digital manufacturing for the Bajío aerospace sector (CIIA) was inaugurated on Tuesday in Aguascalientes, Mexico, to boost aeronautics companies in that country.
The project involves the Government of the State of Aguascalientes, private companies and the Instituto Tecnológico de Aguascalientes on behalf of the academic sector.
The new center joins the five already existing in Mexico to attract investments from private companies that will enable the strategic development of the aerospace sector, which already has a solid presence in states such as Baja California, Querétaro, Chihuahua and Oaxaca.
The objective of the Aguascalientes center is to train human talent to facilitate the installation of aerospace factories in a region with a strong industrial tradition in the automotive sector.
The Governor of Aguascalientes, Martin Orozco Sandoval, said at the inauguration that with the creation of this CIIA, the Central-Bajio-West Region, made up of Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Queretaro and San Luis Potosi, is on its way to becoming the most competitive in Latin America "thanks to the talent of its people and the work aimed at promoting innovation and technology".
Martin Orozco highlighted the importance of the cooperation between the Tecnológico Nacional de México, the Mexican Federation of the Aerospace Industry (FEMIA), the State Government and entrepreneurs to integrate an ecosystem for the supply of parts and components for the aerospace sector, based on innovation and the formation of competitive human capital.
The CIIA Bajío, located in the facilities of the Instituto Tecnológico de Aguascalientes (ITA), is one of the five centers of its kind in Mexico, which will allow the consolidation of competitive technicians, as well as the strengthening of the productive projects of automotive, aeronautical and industry 4.0 companies.
In this CIIA of the Bajío, it will be possible to strengthen learning in reverse engineering, advanced manufacturing, virtual reality, 3D design, among others.
According to the Mexican Ministry of Economy, the aeronautical industry is a strategic sector for industrial development due to the investments it generates through the participation of 300 companies and supplier chains and the generation of more than 60,000 direct jobs before the beginning of the pandemic.
The capacity of this industry to drive the manufacturing and engineering segments has contributed to strengthen exports of aeronautical parts to Europe and the United States
The Mexican Federation of the Aerospace Industry (FEMIA) forecasts that 2021 closed with exports of around US$8 billion, a growth of 8% compared to what was recorded during 2020.
FEMIA estimates that recovery from the crisis resulting from the covid-19 pandemic will come in 2024.
From 2009 to 2019 Mexico's aerospace sector had a steady double-digit growth of an average of 14.3 % and with a record export value of $9.6 billion in exports before the impact caused in 2020 by the covid-19 pandemic.
