On 25 September 2012 the National Aerospace Technology Cluster was born on the initiative of the then MIUR minister Francesco Profumo. Ten years later, the CTNA recounts its birth and growth with a book and a series of events in each of the territories home to the 13 aerospace and technological districts that today belong to it.

«The tenth anniversary is the opportunity to communicate the CTNA in the meetings that we will have in many Italian regions, in our journey between the Districts, their territories, their supply chains and talk about the fascinating world of aerospace», states the president of the CTNA Cristina Leone. « We want to speak not only to professionals in and around the territories, but also to the many young people we have involved in our training initiatives in recent years, to tell what the technological evolution in aerospace will be, the prospects and how, by working together , we can create those long innovation networks that can make the fabric of SMEs grow around large national companies.”

CTNA was born as a public-private non-profit association linked to the Horizon 2020 programme, an 80 billion euro research and innovation program announced in 2011 by the European Union with the aim of giving a strong boost to European technological competitiveness. Among the first eight Italian National Clusters there is precisely that of aerospace, which sees as its founders the districts of Lazio, Puglia, Piedmont, Lombardy and Campania, to which over the years Emilia Romagna, Sardinia, Tuscany, Umbria have gradually been added , Basilicata, Abruzzo, Liguria and Veneto; the Marche region’s membership will be finalized in the coming months. CNR, CIRA, GE Avio, Leonardo, Aiad, ASI, INVG are also members of the CTNA.

«The value of the CTNA is the actively participated network that operates on both a local and national scale,» underlines Leone . «The objective is to multiply knowledge and practices, bringing together businesses, the academic world and civil society to team up in the country and always be ready to seize growth opportunities for our sector».

« From this tenth anniversary, the validity of the idea of ​​creating a “district of districts” emerges, confirmed by the continuous growth of members », says Gregory Alegi, author of the book CTNA 10: from the tradition of the territories to aerospace innovation, which will be presented in all the meetings of the tenth anniversary. «We hope to be able to add new chapters to the history of CTNA that reflect the richness of industrial traditions and the ability to synergize to innovate.»

For the visions carried out by the EU in the aeronautical field, and Spin-IT for Space, the CTNA avails itself of the collaboration of ACARE. « The journey into the history and future of the CTNA begins tomorrow May 6th in Matera ,» says the president Cristina Leone, «where we will meet the Clas, Cluster Lucano Aerospazio, chaired by Antonio Colangelo , then in the month of May on the 12th Campania, the 19th Piedmont, on the 29th Puglia, in June on the 14th Umbria, on the 23rd Veneto, on the 30th Liguria and gradually the other districts…

Rome, 5 May 2021